


Posing

by themostcleverandwittyname



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Also takes place throughout game and after, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Mentions of mentall illness, Minor Markus/Simon (Detroit: Become Human), OC has a personality, Other, Platonic Relationships, Real World Problems, Slow Burn, Spoilers, Violence, if that makes sense, maybe eventual smut, plot heavy, takes place a few days before
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-06-01 12:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15143555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themostcleverandwittyname/pseuds/themostcleverandwittyname
Summary: Claire finally has the funding that she needs to do some proper research on the possible causes of deviancy, and with Cyberlife breathing down her neck she is more inspired not to fail than ever before. To succeed, she must pose as an android for thirty days and record what it is like to be in such a position.It just so happens that an android that is designed to notice any human behavior in a machine has made his way into the same police station that she chose for her research, which means that she cannot let a single mistake catch his eyes.





	1. A realization of doom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire realizes that she had bitten off more than she can chew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, so this is hopefully the start of a long fic that I'm excited to write. I don't know how often I will be able to update, but hopefully, it will be once a week. I have watched so many playthroughs of this game and I love the story and Connor's character is very interesting to me. And when things are interesting, I can't help but think a lot about them. So here is my first Detroit fic, and it may be only one, but we'll have to see. 
> 
> I thought it would be interesting to see how androids are treated from a human perspective and thought of this idea. I will also be writing about whatever happens after Markus's demonstration (yes, this does follow a pacifist route) and how the androids and humans interact with the tension. 
> 
> Please let me know if you like this, have any suggestions/ critiques, and if you think I should carry the story in a different way. I can't guarantee that I will take your advice, but it may change minor details. 
> 
> Also, this is a slow burn, so any sort of good relationship involving Connor will take a while to develop and he isn't really even in the first chapters. I hope you'll forgive me and know that I too am waiting for Connor to appear in this fic, along with Markus, because they are my favorites.
> 
> Anyways, enough of that, please enjoy!

October 31st, 2038

“Of course, Mr. Fowler, I’ll be there in like five minutes.” she paused to listen to his response, holding the phone against her ear. 

“Thank you so much for letting me do this. I mean, really. I have called three different police departments and none of them wanted anything to do with my study.” she admitted, projecting as much thankfulness into her voice as she could. She finished the dregs of her lukewarm coffee, hoping to suck as much energy from the caffeine as humanly possible. She was going to need it. She shoved the solo cup into the trash bin between the seats.

“Yep, bu-bye” she finished, tapping the end call icon and taking a deep breath. The taxi was almost there, it’s eta showed that she was only three minutes from her destination. 

She took a chance to make sure she looked convincible enough. Her uniform was in proper order, the blue LEDs in the grey fabric shone through, reminding her of some cool sci-fi movie she has seen before. She felt a bit jealous that it wasn’t socially acceptable for humans to wear the lights on their own clothing, that androids were the ones who got to be adorned in cool, kickass clothing. She had the chance now, but it was equally unrewarding because Cyberlife informed her that they would not be covering the cost of any replacement uniforms. Her dull blue eyes lingered in the taxi’s mirror, seeing that the cleverly designed sticker that Cyberlife gifted her glowed on her temple, the color was a serene blue. She experimented with it’s responsiveness to her emotions. She came up with a difficult math problem and watched as the blue swirled away to be replaced with gold light. Perfect. She had a sticker for every day of this month, exactly how long she would be at the police department. Her black shoulder-length hair was pulled into a high bun, the hairstyle that she would keep as it was more clinical. She had taken a while to make sure that any human imperfections, like freckles or stray hairs in her bun, was corrected.

The taxi slowed to a halt in front of the police department and she took a moment to gather herself before stepping out, putting on a neutral resting face, hoping no emotion stood out too prominently in her features. A fence protected the parking lot where all the police cars were safely nested, a group of officers stood around a vehicle and conversed lazily. A couple stood outside the doors, thanking a policeman for finding their wallet. The sky was overcast, the noon sun nowhere to be seen behind the thick clouds. It was a normal day, and the perfect day for her to start.

The automatic door whizzed open and the woman stepped inside, the coziness of the inside washed away the chill of the autumn air. The secretary was surprisingly not an android, but a middle age woman who had her glasses balanced on the end of her nose. A security guard was stationed at the door, the mechanized glass door tightly shut off to anyone without permission to enter. How was she supposed to get in? She couldn’t risk talking to the secretary and possibly blowing her cover. Fortunately for her, Mr. Fowler stepped up to the door and pushed it open, spotting her in the lobby. He motioned for her to come inside and she nodded, following him through the glass doors..

The large, bald man lead her straight to his office, thankfully no one saw her enter in. There were desks all over the room, various papers strewn across every surface, the sign of a busy workstation, however, it seemed everyone was in the breakroom or out somewhere. He waited at his office door and shut it behind her, scooting around his oak desk. An American flag hung on the wall behind him.

“Please take a seat, Miss Ripley.” he offered and she obeyed, taking a look at the desk, which was also taken over by a flurry of papers.

“Just Claire, thank you.” she replied, placing her hands on her grey skirt. The chief director looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. 

“You really do look like one of those androids. It’s ridiculous.” he stated, gazing at her fake LED and placing his hands on his desk. 

“It’s all thanks to Cyberlife helping me out with this. Without the uniform and this,” she pointed at the light on her temple, “It wouldn’t be very convincing.” The man nodded, his dark eyes looked down at a piece of paper.

“So you’ve done this before? I would never do anything crazy like this,” he said with a laugh, “You know you’re asking for trouble, right?” He lowered his voice, a hint of warning. She had heard it before.

“Yeah, in July I did this at a hotel for a month. I know what kind of trouble it can be. “ she stated, knowing that some sort of question to her sanity may be a part of this conversation. Once again, the man looked down at the paper, his chocolate fingers pinched the corner. She had guessed at this point it was her info.

“And all without pay…” he trailed off, not believing it. She shrugged.

“My research is well worth it. Besides, the first book I released about my studies still helps me out financially… But actually, Cyberlife is funding all of this so I’m not going unpaid.” she responded, rubbing her eye. She couldn’t afford to go unpaid in this economy and having a job was somewhat of a miracle with the rising unemployment rate. As much as she enjoyed her discoveries about androids and deviants, she would never do this for free. She had to go home with something after slaving all day. The man looked back to her, another question in his mind. 

“What made you seek out a police department? Why not go to another business like a bank?” He asked, his curiosity in his eyes. 

“Well...banks aren’t really stressful environments. I chose a police station because there will be a lot of tension and more intense situations for me to be exposed to. I want to record how stress changes attitudes towards androids, so I thought this was the perfect place for it. Not to mention, this department, in particular, has done the most investigation on deviants so far, so I think it will be interesting to see how I’m treated after all of the chaos.” she said, watching the director look at her with concern. 

“I hadn’t considered that. If any of my guys mess with you during your experiment, you can tell me and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” he offered, clasping his hands together in a serious manner.

“No, please, don’t interfere. I appreciate it, but no one can know until the end of the month. It’s crucial that everyone thinks I’m an android, or else the results will be biased. That’s the whole point. The only situation that should need your help is if someone gets violent, but I’ve never had that happen. And we can’t talk like this often, it will arouse suspicion if you routinely chat with an android, you know.” she pointed out, her voice worried for a moment. She couldn’t have this one blow over because of a little mess up. This time, she’s got Cyberlife breathing down her neck for her research.

“I understand. It’ll be hard to watch, but I shouldn’t mess with your experiment,” he said, standing up, signaling that it was time to stop talking and get to work. “Here is your ID, you need to use this to get in the building and to prove that you belong here. Don’t lose it. You might want to come in an hour early to make sure that no one sees you arrive so that they think you’ve stayed the whole night. You also need to leave last too. The cameras are only checked if something drastic happens, so you’ll stay hidden there too. That’s what advice I can give you. Just do as everyone says and you’ll be fine.” He said, handing her the card, which she tucked away immediately. 

“Thank you again, I’ll make sure everything goes smoothly and I won’t disrupt your office at all, so don’t worry. Don’t be afraid to order me around every now and then, it’ll be more believable.” she stated, leaving her chair. 

“In that case, everyone’s desk is a mess. Straighten them up, okay? Don’t throw anything away.” he gave his first order, earning a smile. That was quick. She stopped at the door, her hand on the handle.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.” she said, turning the knob.

“Wait, before you go, I need you to understand something.” he stopped her, and she let the door shut. She cast a glance over her shoulder, wondering why the chief’s voice had such a shadow of warning over it.

“Be careful of Connor. It’s designed to find and apprehend deviants, so anything out of the normal from an android like yourself will make it suspicious. If you mess up in front of it, it will expose you without hesitation. All it cares about is its mission.” he warned. 

It… she was so sick of hearing it thrown around. Fowler hadn’t said it in any negative way, but she had heard it so often in posing as an android that the word it as a pronoun made her cringe. 

So there really was a Connor model here? That’s right, she hadn’t thought about that. She’ll be discovered really quick if she isn’t absolutely perfect. Dread knotted in her stomach. She worked so hard for this opportunity and it may be flushed down the drain. Expose you without hesitation.

“I forgot about that. I heard about that on the news. Can’t you let him in on this and then make sure he doesn’t say anything?” she asked, hoping none of her panic showed in her voice. The man gave her a sympathetic look.

“It doesn’t really take orders from us, all of its objectives are given from higher up. That may change, but for now, our hands are tied. Don’t get caught, that’s all I can say. It’s not officially stationed here yet, but it may show up prematurely to look at case files. I don’t think it will show up today or tomorrow at all. Good luck, kid.” he offered and opened the door for her.

No more comment came from her as he shut the door behind her, leaving her to look at the skewed office. She took a deep breath and got on straightening all of the papers into a neat stack, hoping to play her part as a cleaning android well. She made her way to each desk, noticing that there was one desk that didn’t have anything on it. No name tag, no papers. She shrugged it off and continued, also being mindful to throw away empty bottles of water in the trash bins along with food wrappers and soda cans. 

It was fairly monotonous work, but it sure beats scrubbing toilets. Some things would pique her interest from desk to desk, different officer’s family portraits, wives, pets. Newspaper articles that bragged on the officer would be displayed proudly among other photos or letters used as memorabilia. Claire tried not to be too distracted, but she would be a liar if she said she didn't read a few paragraphs of some of the articles. The office was stunningly quiet, she assumed everyone was either busy on a case or had been dispatched for some emergency. 

Which was why she nearly dropped some papers when a loud yell erupted into the room from the entrance.

“I’m telling you, I didn’t see anything! I don’t know why it was in my garage, I swear!” A voice bellowed, two officers marched in a man who was visibly disheveled, in his mid-twenties by the look of him. He wasn’t struggling any more than just insisting that he didn’t see anything over and over. The noise must have been heard through the walls because Mr. Fowler stuck his head out of his office door.  
“You have known Mrs. Cornwal for three years since you became her neighbor, right? Eyewitnesses said that-” one of the men prodded on before Captain Fowler interrupted his speech.

“Take him to the interrogation room. He’s making too much noise out here!” he demanded, gesturing with his arm. The two men lead the suspect halfway to the interrogation room before noticing the new addition hovering over a desk. She noticed one man looked to be about thirty and was the man closest to her, having dusty brown hair and a five o'clock shadow. He looked dreadfully tired. The other man had light eyes and for the most part had kept quiet, more concerned with making sure that the suspect didn’t pull any clever shenanigans. He had a more square face and dark hair, looking to be in his forties. The man with the five o clock shadow noticed her and gave her a look of disgust. Classic. 

“Why is that here? We don’t need any more bolt brains around here, Jeff!” the man stated, pointing at her, casting a questioning glare at the director. Bolt brain? That’s not even clever! She stayed still, afraid to say or do anything to worsen the situation. “We can do investigations ourselves!” he said, his voice raised. 

“Calm down, Reed, it’s only a service android. I bought it to clean and run errands.” The captain spoke up, the three men looked at him, the suspect momentarily content with not being shoved into a room to be questioned. The man who had spoken up, Reed apparently, was quiet for a moment before huffing to himself.

“In that case, I need a coffee. Go get it.” he barked, and continued on, earning a flurry of forgotten protest from the suspect as he shoved him along. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before uttering anything.

“Yes, right away.” she responded, her words were ignored and she left the last unstraightened desk for later. Fowler gave her a sympathetic look before pointing to where the break room would be. She nodded and with haste hurried over to the room. The breakroom had what any other good breakroom would have, a sink, coffee machine, vending machine, mini fridge, a cabinet full of kitchenware, and a small lunch table complete with a television in the corner.

She patiently waited for the coffee to brew and decided to listen to the news in her wait. 

“...and we’ve received news that Cyberlife will be stationing it’s new RK800 investigation android in Detroit Central Police Department on the fifth of November to help with the deviant outbreak case. We here at the Local Broadcasting Network have one question. Will androids take even the most prestigious jobs and can we trust them with our own private security? Next in, tensions between America and Russia….” she listened in, but the moment that she zoned in and realized that the coffee pot was full, she let her attention drift back to making the cup of coffee. 

Taking the cup of black coffee, no sugar or cream or any other accessories added due to the vagueness of the request, Claire carefully carried the hot cup to the man, hoping that his look of disgust was only triggered by his stressful situation, but part of her knew her hope was misplaced. The large letters over the doorway that read Interrogation Room made it obvious where to go. She passed a few holding cells and tried to ignore the one man standing in the middle of his hold. Once she came to the door at the end of a hallway that had one-way glass, she paused and knocked. She watched through the window as the person who had ordered the cup called out to another person in the room. The wooden door opened and she peered in, the man who had opened the door had been sitting and listening from the other end of the glass, his blue eyes glanced boredly down at the mug in her hands. The setup reminded her of a recording studio, two microphones sat in the middle of the interrogation room, the harsh fluorescent light shown flatly on the two seated behind the glass.

“Just leave it, we’ll get it to him in a moment.” The blue-eyed man stated, a twinge of annoyance hinted at in his voice. She obeyed and set it on the desk, casting another glance through the glass at the interrogation. It was just like in the movies. Her interest flare up, now wondering what case they were currently working on. She had always been a huge fan of Sherlock, having read the books and too many adaptations. She always loved murder mysteries and she herself, if she could brag, had watched a lot of episodes of Scooby Doo. She had no real right to be interested in this sort of casework or understand how the system worked, but maybe after a month here, she could better judge the authenticity of murder mysteries.

She kept her eyes trained on the men behind the glass, losing sight as she shut the door behind her. Welp, back to organizing desks it was. When she turned to start down the hall, a shadow stopped her in midstep, so close she almost stepped right into the figure. Whoever had come up behind her had been quiet and quick. It took her a moment to realize what she was looking at exactly, but her brain finally remembered that she could read.

There, right at eye level was a serial code and ID number on a uniform. She didn’t lift her head to meet the person’s gaze until the ID had registered in her brain, or rather, that she realized it wasn’t an ID but a model number.

RK800

Fuck

Fuck 

It took everything she had not to cuss out loud or jump away. As best she could, she deadpanned, held her breath, and tried to appear as robotic and unaffected as possible. Slowly she lifted her head to get a good look at the android in front of her, hoping that nothing about her behavior struck the machine as odd. 

The face of this android held a simple and natural appearance, the realism of the features was surprising. He had dark hair and thick, curved eyebrows. Dark brown eyes gazed down at her and she noticed a tendril of hair that curled out of place onto his forehead. His eyes looked kind and sincere, oddly matched with his stern, determined expression. He had a square face and narrow nose, his complexion was pale. He even had a hint of a freckle or small beauty mark on his cheek. No doubt that he was designed to look normal and striking like this, not too over the top like a model, but appealing enough to make him favorable. He looked her age, but she knew he was only released two months ago, from what she had read on the internet. He was, in every way, perfect and designed for the accuracy that was needed. 

And this meant she was most likely royally screwed if she wanted to stay undercover.

The android gave her a strange look, his eyes focused on her...ear? No, her LED. She noticed out of the corner of her eye, in the reflection of the two-way mirror, her LED was shining bright red. Her heart dropped and she tried to calm herself, hoping it turned blue as quickly as if had turned red, but the blaring light remained. Stupid, cleverly designed sticker! This was her giveaway. Damn, she had tried. She’ll have to find somewhere else to conduct this experiment.

“I need to get by, please excuse me.” He spoke, his gentle voice spooking her. Wasn’t he going to point out her LED? No question? Did he even suspect anything? Her LED spun back around as a comforting blue, her prayers being answered.

“Yes, right away. I’m sorry for being a disturbance.” she said in the flattest tone she could and stepped out of the way, closing her eyes and swallowing as he stepped around her and into the interrogation room. The second the door clicked shut, she exhaled and placed her hand over her heart that was beating out of her chest. She was so lucky he hadn’t said anything, hadn’t suspected, or if he had suspected, not enough to bring it up. It was suspicious enough for her LED to turn red at seeing him, showing that she was in danger when there was no reason she, as an android, should feel that way by the appearance or another android.

She took a moment to breathe and reluctantly went back to her work, somehow hoping that she would make it for the rest of the day. The Connor had caught her off guard so hard that the rest of the day felt like impending doom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gotta gun, no girls, girls gotta die pop pop, wake up with no hweueueh, julioioioioioio
> 
> JUUUUUUUUUUUUUU JUMP IN THE CAAC.
> 
> sorry, I listened to that on repeat writing this entire chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments. Thank you


	2. Rough Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire mops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting the first and second chapter at the same time, so I haven't gotten any feedback yet.
> 
> This is yet another chapter that has solidly nothing but some exposition, so my precious robo boy isn't involved yet. I'm excited to try and write him, along with Claire's reaction to him because he is so human-like it's stunning. Like, his design makes him perfect for negotiating and for Claire, who has only been around vanilla androids, she is solidly amazed once she gets to talk to him. 
> 
> But for now, she's just trying to stay away from him to avoid being caught.

The first day had knocked five years off Claire’s life.

 

When she had gotten home, she barely spoke to her roommate. She scarfed down as much food as she could, given that androids can’t exactly take lunch breaks on duty. Her dumb human brain made her paranoid for the rest of the day, but it was paranoia wasted because the Connor model was only there for half an hour before returning to Cyberlife. Which was nice, but she was still on edge. She had no clue as to how she managed to survive that encounter. Maybe she was just being dramatic, but her research was so important to her and she knew this was a perfect time and perfect place for this research, she could  _ feel _ it. She felt as if she would miss something huge if she waited another month. She called the agent who had organized everything for her at Cyberlife and asked what she should do about handling the situation with the new investigation android, now that she wasn’t conducting this social experiment solo. The agent had pretty much laughed it off and gave her the same answer she already knew.

 

Just don’t get caught.

 

Why didn’t they just tell him about her social experiment? It would be simple. Just tell him and then order him not to say anything, right? Why did this have to be an obstacle for her? If her research didn’t go as planned, Cyberlife couldn’t exactly blame her when they have stationed a highly intuitive machine right in front of her, one that would easily detect anything fishy on her part. She had her hands tied, it’s not as if it would be easy to find another police station that would allow her to play pretend in their premise for a month. She was lucky enough that Captain Fowler agreed.

 

“Hey, it’s late and I’m not dragging your ass out of bed in the morning.” her roommate spoke up, not daring to look away from the television, her face void of anything similar to tiredness. Claire had zoned out, lost in her thoughts and hazed mind, dulled by her exhaustion. She did nothing more than mumble a goodnight and finish writing her log for the first day.

 

She left her worries for the next day. And made her way to bed, loving on her cat and trying to build herself up for the next day by telling herself that she would succeed.

 

* * *

  
  


The next two days were fairly uneventful. The police department was quiet and calm, only usual things like someone talking about a self-driving car flipping over and general gossip caught her ears and her interest. No one had treated her overly rude, nor had any officers treated her impeccable nice. Just normal and neutral. She had made more cups of coffee than she ever had, had delivered things all around the office, and she had swept and mopped the floor every day. The director hadn’t spoken to her to receive any feedback at all and she hadn’t seen the Connor model at all, thankfully. She had gotten to know a handful of the faces around the department, and she knew who to avoid.

 

Constantly standing on her feet and not eating all day until late at night, or in some fleeting moment when she could sneak something was beginning to wear her down. Her attitude had shifted and she was worn out and her temper had shortened. As soon as she would get home, she would write the log that documented the observations of the day, piecing together what attitudes were thrown at her, the makeshift android. Her roommate was accommodating and let her sleep without much of a disturbance, being considerate enough not to keep her up to chat. The first three days had gone by as smoothly as clockwork.

 

This day, unlike the others, started off rather rough. In getting ready, her cat had bolted out of her apartment door and she had to chase it like a madman down the complexes hallway, which wasted some of her time. Claire had gotten to the office a little less early than planned and went ahead and made a pot of coffee because she knew it would be demanded first thing this morning. Literally, before she had even the chance to fully be awake, there were three officers bringing in some sort of violent criminal. Two had him shoved downwards, their hands pressing down as a weight on the criminal’s shoulders, the third cop stayed behind the other and held him a hand on his gun which rested at his side. The criminal was very roughed up and a sight to behold.

 

The rugged man had scars and sleeves of tattoos that showed off gang symbolism, his face was hardened with bitterness and memories of many rough days. His ragged hair fell messily around his face and his scowl meant business. The man was huge, putting even heavyweight boxers to shame. He was handcuffed in the front and mad at the world. She watched in curiosity and was cautious not to be caught staring as if she were watching some snake coiled up under a rock. She was in the middle of sweeping, eyeing him from where she had gathered a small pile of dust, having never been this close to a real baddie. Unlucky for her, the criminal hadn’t missed her gaze, his scowl grew at the sight of her. At her android appearance.

 

“You fuckers ruined my life, you ruined my job! You ruined everything!” he growled out, shifting his balance, holding more ground as he got into a lowered position. The three cops barely had time to react before he ducked from their grasps and shouldered the cop on his right with all his force. The cop was sent staggering backward, and the cop on the raging man’s left only had time to comprehend his own impending thrashing before he got headbutted by the giant criminal. All the while, the cop with the gun was yelling something that in the chaos she didn’t understand. His gun had been drawn, but it was too late.

 

She was fixed in place, watching all of this in astonishment, wondering if her tiredness had made her imagine this all. Nothing could be that nice. The criminal was at her side in a second, knocking her back before she could brace herself. Her back hit a desk and she couldn’t even yell before he was on her again, bringing his cuffed hands over the back of her head, his eyes dangerous and furious. He pulled her head up, the cuffs digging into the back of her neck. She had to think quick. The broom was still in her hand.

 

“I got you now, you little bitch.” the attacker growled in sick satisfaction.

 

She swung the handle of the broom over to her other hand, holding the pole as a defense against the man. She shoved it at arm’s length into his throat, struggling against the colossus as he tried to pull her closer. She knew that trying to punch him or retaliate in any way that wasn’t purely defensive would be seen as aggressive and she would be seen as suspicious for certain. She was able to drive her leg up between them, helping to push him back further, but it wasn’t enough to wriggle away. Several sets of hands grabbed the criminal, pulling him of her, earning protesting growls and swears from the man and grunts and orders from the cops. One of the policemen pulled a taser and aimed it at the mass of cops on top the mountain of criminal. Claire scooted and leaped away from the desk, and in the midst of all the chaos, still being mindful not to react in such a bothered, human way. No one was paying her any attention at this point, so she was able to pant a little while going unnoticed, catching her breath is the least of anyone’s concern. She was able to make it a good distance away before the taser made contact with the attacker and put him down.

 

Claire wasn’t hurting at the moment, but she knew damn well that where she had hit the desk with her back and her neck would be aching this evening, if not when she was able to calm down. Soon enough, the criminal had been detained and was being dragged back to a holding cell, still fighting after a horde of policemen had tackled and tasered him. His nose was bloodied and scarlet dripped down his face onto the floor, being spread and splattering as he struggled and spat. Nice. She’ll have to mop the floor.

 

“Hey, android!” One of the officers spoke up, out of breath from his struggle, standing to the side no longer needing to restrain the criminal. She tried to do a quick job of composing herself, turning to face the speaker, the criminal still yelling in the background. “Clean up this god-awful mess.” he said, disgusted at the splattered blood. As much as everything in her body told her to run to the bathroom and settle down, maybe even cry, she closed her eyes and remembered the task at hand, remembered how much it would suck to make a mistake.

 

“Yes, of course. Is there anything else I can do to help?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t reflect how she felt inside, shaken up and stressed. The man didn’t seem to notice or care, also occupied with his own desire to take a break. 

 

“Yes, after you mop this up, you can make a pot of coffee.” he announced. She gave an artificial smile and cursed herself for asking. He rested his hand on the side of his face, his grey hair spoke for his tiredness from just a little excitement, on his part anyway.

 

“You can find a pot of coffee already prepared in the breakroom. I will be finished mopping soon, so do mind that it will take half an hour for the floor to dry completely. I precaution you to take note of the wet floor signs in advance and be careful of your step.” she said, reciting verbatim what cleaning androids would say in restaurants and other facilities. She kept her hands loosely cupped in front of her and didn’t move until the man responded, which was standard.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” the officer said with an eye roll, one gesture that she was tempted to mimic the moment he turned around to head towards the break room. She went to the supply closet and got out the wet floor signs, the old-fashioned, yellow, non-holographic signs that folded out. She placed those in the spots that were most needed, where the most foot traffic would be. By the time she had the mop and hot water out, the officers that had dragged the criminal were now done stuffing him in a cell, their exit was simultaneous with the arrival with Captain Fowler, who was walking into a bloody mess, literally. She made the decision to wait it out, not wanting to get busy mopping in the middle of a grand explanation to the director of the department. 

 

“What happened here? I’m thirty minutes late and this place is falling apart?” he raised his voice, angry before a proper explanation was able to be given. One officer, who had a mingle of blood on his fist and smeared on his uniform, spoke up, stepping forward. 

 

“We captured the drug lord that has been causing all of the trouble on the west side.” the officer begin explaining, but she didn’t get to hear the rest of the explanation. The cop that had ordered her to mop motioned for her to come into the breakroom. 

 

She propped the mop against the wall and paced into the breakroom, wondering what exactly she could be needed for. She left the chaos to be sorted out until she was needed to mop. She found the man peering into the refrigerator with a disappointed scowl on his face. He was down on his knees, his eyes darting from item to item angrily. He glanced at her and a glimmer of hope passed his eyes. Thank goodness, so far he didn’t seem like he had called her in to blame her for something or boss her around rudely. 

 

“Did you happen to see anyone take a salad from here? I just put my lunch here, and now it’s missing,” he asked, moving things around to try and find his missing lunch. “This has happened before and each time, no one comes clean about it.” he fretted, taking a stand and grabbing his coffee mug from the countertop, taking a sip and exposing the bottom, which had a handlebar mustache as decoration. She took a moment to look at the man’s name badge. Detective Collins.

 

“I have not seen anyone take anything from the refrigerator. Did you put your name on it?” she asked, appearing to be helpful as she could manage, her previous roughing up beginning to grow sore on her lower back now that she had calmed herself. He shook his head. 

 

“Shouldn’t have to put my name on it. People should just leave stuff alone.” he said, “If you see anyone take anything from the fridge, make sure it’s not mine, okay?” his request was ridiculous. How was she supposed to ensure that? She’s not a superhero and she can’t make people prove that it is, in fact, their own lunches they are taking out. Will people ask androids to do the most ridiculous things just because they won’t have to take the fall for it? She made a mental note to write this down in her log later.

 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Collins, but such a request is not-” she began and he waved his hand, cutting her short. He turned and topped off his coffee, not wanting to hear any excuses.

 

“Nevermind, don’t worry about it. I forgot that you androids are programmed to be stuck up other’s asses.” he commented, leaving the room. God, what a douchebag. Claire took a deep breath, feeling her backache from the movement of her inhalation. She quickly checked that the coffee pot was at least half full and placing out more packets of sugar and cleaning up a droplet of coffee that had found itself on the counter. 

 

The policemen and Captain Fowler were no longer standing in the main office area when she left the break room, so she began mopping, cringing internally at the blood, trying to make as little bodily contact with it as she could. Mopping did not in any way help her soreness, but she would have to wait until she got home to put an ice pack on it… No, she would take a bath and let the warm water make it feel better.

 

She got lost in mopping, the monotonous work made her mind wander. Once she was done mopping, she made sure that all of the wet floor signs still stayed in a noticeable place and stuck the mop back into its bucket. With all of the warning she had given to others about the floor being wet and the big, ugly, yellow signs screaming at her, she would have thought that she had been more careful on the slippery floor. Nope. She slipped the second she began to head towards the storage closet, landing on her knee and hands, her palm stung from the impact on the concrete flooring. The stickiness of the wet floor clung to her hand and she sucked air in, trying to keep her face neutral.

 

A pair of shoes found their way at the edge of the large, wet area, the way the figure stopped meant that whoever was staring at her enough to stop and watch. Great, more berating was on its way. She got to her feet and let her eyes drift upwards to find another reason to want to run and hide in the bathroom.

 

The Connor model had returned unannounced and had seen her make a clumsy, human mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wouldn't have been able to keep calm during any of this and I probably would be on the ground screaming if I were in Claire's position during this chapter.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading and let me know what you think.


	3. Self Conscious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire is Nervous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what up, I'm back. I'm already halfway through writing chapter four, so like expect an update soon. 
> 
> I'm hoping you like this as much as I enjoy writing it and don't be afraid to leave feedback.

“Are you damaged from your fall? I can refer you to the nearest Cyberlife repair center, if necessary.” The android offered, he was smooth and gentle, but deep. There was no way that he didn’t suspect something now. She supposed that an android could slip and fall, it wasn’t implausible, but she had only seen it under rare occasions. She felt fear bubble up and she was certain her LED reflected that, betraying her in the worst way. Before she could think to make sure that her explanation was solid, it was already pouring from her mouth.

“I would not fall after acknowledging the precautions of a wet floor. To be efficient, I got a closer look at the floor to make sure it was completely clean.” she said, matter of factly, still making sure to hold a clinical tone as to not show her fear or humiliation, despite the probability that her false LED was swirling red. The android in front of her tilted his head slightly, his own LED blinks yellow, deciding whether or not to mention how ridiculous her excuse was, she assumed. 

“Well, is it clean enough?” he asked, playing along with her excuse rather than outright stating that it was silly… or did he really believe she was checking the cleanliness of the floor? Claire couldn’t tell, so she nodded and tried not to fidget, selling it as much as possible. She tried to ignore the sound of footsteps coming up to watch behind her. 

“Yes. Perfectly clean. The bathroom is next on my list. I can’t waste time, it’s not efficient.” she said, mentally kicking herself. She didn’t want to oversell it to the point of being obvious. No, no one suspects anything and she’ll be fine just so long as the android in front of her didn’t catch on. The android narrowed his eyes and watched as she avoided his gaze and grabbed the mop, unapologetically wheeling the bucket away without another word. Overexplaining would just ruin everything.

She glanced back over her shoulder to see that the unique model still stood there, processing what just happened along with another officer, who seemed too tired to really care about the conversation between two androids. She let herself exhale and began to wonder if that android would show up every time she messes up. Why was he even here? She swallowed, once again deeply unsettled at his sudden appearance, hoping that he wouldn’t be staying in the office for the rest of the day. He’ll definitely have his eye on her, probably already expecting that she is a deviant or hiding something to some capacity. Around other humans, Claire felt it easy to impersonate an android, to deal with anything that is said or suspected, but she could already tell that it was going to be hard to calm her nerves around the Connor enough to be convincing. 

She had tucked the mop and it’s bucket back into the closet after dumping out the culmination of blood, dirt, and cleaning solution water. The storage closet sealed behind her, and with it being half hidden in a nook, Captain Fowler chose this as the perfect opportunity to half jog down the hallway, concern on his face.

“Miss Claire, I heard what happened, are you hurt anywhere? I can make you go run an “errand” if you need to take a break?” He asked, his voice lowered. The dark-haired woman shook her head.

“I’m fine, really. It wasn’t a big deal,” she lied. She was sore and tired, but leaving now would be suspicious and she didn’t want anyone to catch on. She was couldn’t take any chances, especially with that investigation android here. “Besides, I can’t just go and run an “errand” anytime something unpleasant happens. I’ll save that for something worse than just being pushed around a little.” her words were a vast understatement. That was definitely more than just being pushed around a little bit. The bald man seemed to want to argue but decided against it and rather just nodded, though she could see he disagreed.

“Well, if it ever becomes too much, let me know and I’ll give you an “errand”, okay?” he said, turning to leave but another idea showed on his face, not allowing him to retreat just yet. “Do you blame him for grabbing you like that? You asked for it being dressed like one of those things.”

The question hadn’t taken her off guard much at all, that question had been asked by her friends, her parents, and her employers. It was all along the lines of you’re asking to get hurt, you deserve that treatment being dressed like one of those things, and you can’t blame someone for treating you like a machine when you’ve tricked them. She took a moment to properly figure just what exactly she felt about it, about being treated this way just because she resembled an android. She wouldn’t be treated this unapologetically harsh out in the open if she were seen as human. But that was the point, her point despite no one else sharing that idea, that sympathy for the poor treatment of androids. Her sympathy, however, was not without cause. She didn’t always feel sympathetic.

“I suppose I can’t blame him for taking it out on me, looking like an android. There wouldn’t be as much of a consequence in taking out frustration on a piece of plastic right? No real consequence, so no real consideration was taken by him. If I were seen as human, it wouldn’t be as likely to have someone take out frustration on me but I guess that’s my personal goal. There wouldn’t be a consequence in regarding androids as a little more than just a hunk of materials.” she said, hinting at her own personal interest. The captain gave her a look of disbelief.

“So you think of those things as humans? That’s ridiculous. I thought you were here to research deviancy.” he said, his voice showing how objected he was towards her opinion. She shrugged as a non-committal gesture.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m still here very much to research human behavior and deviancy. It’s just a personal preference to be more sympathetic towards androids. But, consider this, if androids weren’t as hated, don’t you think that violent tendencies would be somewhat lessened by the lack of demonization. Afterall, they’re just plastic so why hate them so much?” she reasoned with the man’s own logic, for the moment putting aside the fact that androids have taken jobs of thousands of people. It was a complicated topic.

The captain pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. She knew it wasn’t an easy idea to grasp, so she didn’t hold it against him no matter how much she wanted to argue. Society just wasn’t open to this yet.

“I think that your brain is fried from working so much for the past three days.” he admitted, a touch of humor showed in his voice, softening the way he said it, as if not trying to be completely insulting. “Just go take all of the trash from the bins to look busy, okay? After this, we may have to actually buy a cleaning android. I don’t know why we haven’t yet.” she nodded, also realizing that it was strange that they didn’t have a cleaning android here yet. Was it due to the theory that androids can be used as spies or just that the county commissioner hadn’t funded the addition of another android? She didn’t know.

The captain walked off, leaving her to remember something that she should have brought up while he was there. Why was Connor here, unannounced? Was there any way he could stay as far away from her as possible. The android was already suspicious, or at least she thought he was. Maybe she was just paranoid because he is supposed to be the most advanced model Cyberlife has ever made. Claire wasn’t entirely sure what set him apart from other androids. 

Letting her thoughts run in her mind, she began to gather the trash from the bins, casting a few glances at the detective android who sat at a desk near the entrance. The man’s dark eyes were trained on a screen, looking through names and data, from what she could tell. She would gather the trash at his desk last, she planned, hoping that the android would have left by the time that she got over there. Looking at him in sneaking and short-lived glances, she really did wonder what set him apart from other androids. 

Could he scan faces and link them to a police database? She was sure that maybe he could remember evidence well and possibly have an algorithm of some sort to piece together information. Maybe he was really accurate with guns or fast enough to catch runaways, perhaps inhumanely strong? She couldn’t say that for certain either, looking at him he wasn’t the most built man nor was he tall. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be fast. She wondered if he was advanced enough to be able to determine the chemical compounds of drugs or sample blood, but that was wishful thinking. These were all things she had seen in sci-fi movies, so no guarantee that any of these things could be true. The one thing she did know was that he was probably more advanced than she could have expected, but she didn’t know in what ways.

With each strange curiosity, each wonder and speculation of what the android was capable of, she had gotten closer and closer to where he sat, noting that the desk he was using was borrowed, belonging to another officer. The closer and closer she got, dumping all of the trash bins into a plastic garbage bag, she got more and more self-conscious of her movements, trying to be swift and perfect. Tentative and fast. Efficient and calculative. The android has paid her no attention, not daring to look away from what she deciphered as case files. Up close he looked so real, so authentic, not to say that the other androids didn’t seem real. No, it was the way that he held himself, reading the files carefully with his full attention and a sparkle of determination in his eyes,

Before she could mentally prepare herself, she was already at the desk that the android was sitting at. Holding her breath, she slowly fell to her knee, avoiding eye contact with the android, and gently pulled the garbage bin from where it was pushed under the desk.

So far, so good.

She relaxed a bit, dumping the contents of the bin into the plastic bag, thankful that her presence only drew a quick curious peek at her from the android, who quickly returned to reading the screen in front of him. She felt relieved that he was too busy to look at her. Maybe this wasn’t as hard as she thought? Maybe she was just overthinking it and wigging herself out. He didn’t look as if he suspected anything, he just looked busy. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding formulated by her because she was paranoid. Giving the android a hopeful glance, Claire decided that she was going to be just fine and that she could 100% perfectly fool him and play the part of an android.

As she placed the bin down, she felt it. She felt the worst thing creep up on her, something she could hide or excuse.

She paused, her hand still on the bin, knowing full well that any break of her concentration, any movement from her part would have it inevitably hit its peak.

She had to sneeze. Really bad.

She slowly closed her eyes and stayed as still as possible, her nose tingles and itches, the air in her lungs frozen, preparing to be exiled in one big, loud, inexcusable and undeniably human sneeze. The sound of the android shifting slightly beside her stole her focus only a bit, but not enough to allow herself to sneeze. No, she knew he was looking at her, she felt it, but she kept her eyes shut and concentrated. Slowly, the tingly, uncomfortable feeling drifted away, leaving nothing but her kneeled down with her eyes shut, looking completely insane as a human, but broken as an android. 

She slowly opened her eyes and left her eyes to drift over to the dark brown eyes that were watching her, the android wore an expression she had never seen a normal android make before. His eyebrows were raised in concern, his lips slightly parted as if he were bargaining with himself on something to say in regards to her behavior. His indicator spun in yellow circles, thinking on something. Everything in her said to run away, make an excuse, distract the android, or literally anything besides continue to stare at him as if he was an eye chart in a doctor’s office, but that’s what she did. She wasn’t entirely sure how long they had their staring contest, but she would assume half a minute. 

It was as if her brain turned on, her body now able to move, his eyes followed her own. She got to her feet and grabbed the bag, the crinkling sound of plastic jarring after the silence that preceded it. She cleared her throat, finally able to break away from looking the android in the eyes.

“Pardon me.” is all she uttered before turning on her heel to go and finish her task of taking out the trash. She felt her face flushed of all color as she headed towards the back of the building. What she did wasn’t definitively wrong or condemning, but it was strange and creepy and there was no doubt that the android could sense that too. She placed the bag on the ground and had to collect herself for a moment.

The way he looked at her as if she had grown four heads. There was no way he didn’t suspect something now. There were three possibilities that were most likely running through the android’s head. Number one, she’s a human. Number two, she’s a deviant android. Or number three, that cleaning android is either possessed by satan or severely broken and scrambled. All three were devastating to her work and dreadful on their own. Just when she was doing well, she had to go and fuck everything up.

The other, more reasonable part of Claire begged to consider that maybe it wasn’t as big a deal as she was making it out to be and the Connor had no inkling of a clue as to what was going on or that he really cared, too busy with what concerns his attention as of right now then some random supposed android that had stared at him a second too long. Yeah. Maybe that’s the case.

Building up courage, Claire left the back room with the dumpster and let the door slide close, walking down the hallway to where it joined the office area, nonchalantly peering around the corner to try and spot the detective android. 

He was gone. Vanished. The screen he was using was no longer on and he was nowhere else in the office area. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out and walked to where the restrooms were, ready to begin cleaning them.

She discovered later that day he had left once his case study was over, returning to Cyberlife for the rest of today and tomorrow. It was relieving, but she still felt as if she had messed up no matter how much that reasonable, hopeful part of her begged her to be optimistic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it were me, I would have sneezed to hell and back and then sobbed.
> 
> Anyways, how long do you think it'll take for Connor to figure out that Claire isn't an android, hmm? Leave your guesses in the comments.


	4. The Sorrow of Stolen Garlic Bread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> R.I.P. Zoomy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is, in my opinion, somewhat important despite that it is a lighter chapter. I've gotten a lot of nice feedback that makes me smile like a child.
> 
> I'll shut up so you can read it haha.

Connor fidgeted in the back seat of the private taxi, returning to Cyberlife to have diagnostics run once again on him before being stationed at the DPD. He had only needed a few minutes to review the case files that he had not yet had access to view, the data being exclusive to that particular department. He let a quarter fall from finger to finger, moving it over his knuckles from his thumb to his pinky before tilting his hand to let the coin travel over each knuckle back to his thumb. He watched with vague interest, letting the movements spur his thoughts.

 

Something strange caught his attention, something he was not able to pinpoint the exact cause of its peculiarity and something that his processors couldn’t figure out. In reviewing his memories, he noticed something strange and inexplicable. A loose end. Usually, the android had no problem calculating the exact cause of an event that he had witnessed, always coming to a conclusion that was logical. However, today and another instance three days prior had held something that had been left to replay in his memory with no apparent cause or explanation.

 

This was the occurrence of noticing that a service android had, without a trigger, showed stress. Not stress in the sense of fidgeting, heightened tones, or anything emotional or human, but rather in slow, stiff movements accompanied by a swirling red LED indicator, a sign that the android’s processor was working at a heightened capacity, like in the case of stressful situations or in deviants, fear. There was nothing that Connor could connect to a cause of stress and this was troubling, the incident played over and over in his mind.

 

The two explanations that he could come up with, although flawed in their own sense, were still too vague to be considered a lead. One explanation was that the android’s LED was broken or malfunctioning, but this idea was flawed because the only time Connor had witnessed the red light was when the android was around him. This theory doesn’t explain the odd behavior, although not condemning, that followed. The second explanation was the android was a deviant and was experiencing emotion, more accurately fear at knowing that Connor himself was stationed there to capture deviants. This was the most probable explanation given that a deviant would hide its emotions and carry on acting normal in attempts to avoid rousing suspicion, especially from him.

 

Connor let the coin drop from his fingers into his palm, now twirling the coin from finger to finger, glancing out the tinted window to see that he was close to his destination. He blinked a few times and let his mind begin to come up with a solution as he watched the coin spin, the spinning metal mimicking what his own processors were doing.

 

He hadn’t had the time to scan the android and diagnose any software instabilities, let alone even get the model number. The peculiar instance of the cleaning android’s LED signal had not quite been as relevant to him until he had reviewed the memory data only minutes ago, the light being shed upon it. Even if he had scanned the android and found an issue, any action would have been out of his jurisdiction and against orders, given that he was not given full reigns over his end of the case until he was to be assigned to that precinct. It was inefficient, however, he had no control over what Cyberlife had laid out as his priorities.

 

His priority for today was to review current case files and return promptly for final tests and preparation. He was only a prototype after all.

 

However, he noted that the android’s behavior was strange and made it one of his first priorities to scan the android and find the cause for the behavior on November fifth, when he would be officially stationed and gain the access he needed to the police department.

 

The last thing he could allow was a deviant at the very police station that he was assigned to. The discovery of the deviant being so close to where he would be active would certainly prove that he was a failure. He couldn’t become useless because he would be replaced and that was not efficient.

 

The taxi pulled to a stop and the detective android put his quarter away and tugged his collar into place before the vehicle’s automatic door opened. Stepping out, he marked the first objective for November fifth as a quick scan for the cleaning android.

 

The last thing Connor would do was fail this mission.

 

* * *

  
  


Claire nearly face planted into the door of her apartment, too tired to even care to watch her balance. She was sore, tired, stressed, and her body ached from being pushed around by a criminal and nearly busting her ass on the floor while mopping. Not to mention, she suffered from extreme paranoia that the Connor model would show up again to wreck her shit. She wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for eight days straight, only breaking away from the comfort of her bed to eat. 

 

She wanted to have a quiet, relaxing evening to recharge after her day and eat as much food as she could before passing out on her bed, couch, or whatever she could sit still on for twelve seconds.

 

The last thing that she wanted was what she found when she opened the door to her apartment.

 

A mop of blonde hair stood out to her, the figure of her roommate was crouched in the middle of the floor. She was crying, tears streaming from her green eyes as she wiped uselessly at her cheeks. Whatever had made her cry was in front of her, concealed by the shadow of the girl leaned over it.

 

“Holly, why are you crying? What’s wrong?” Claire spoke up, placing her purse and android uniform on the kitchen table. Holly looked up at her, her emerald eyes sparkling with her tears. When she straightened up, Claire finally got a glance at what the blonde had been crying over. 

 

There, laid in front of her was the roomba vacuum, void of any lights or movement. A screwdriver laid to the side, loose screws were scattered on the white tile and the panel on the bottom of the roomba had been removed.

 

“Claire, Zoomy is dead. I tried to get it back in working order but I…” the girl sobbed and Claire watched, a sense of relief flooded over her. She thought something seriously wrong had happened. She quietly pulled out her phone to record this, watching as the recording began and slowly hiding the phone by crossing her arms. “It won’t turn on and it was my favorite because it was cute and I just don’t know how to deal with this.” the blonde admitted, another gross sob escaped her lips. She looked down at the “dead” vacuum and sniffled.

 

“Look, Holly, it’s okay. We can buy another roomba. Zoomy 2.0.” Claire reasoned, trying to hide her smile in an attempt to sympathize with her roommate. Claire, despite her exhaustion, struggled to keep from laughing. She felt bad that Holly was upset about this, but it was so innocent and precious to see the concern over a roomba that it was humorous.

 

“No! I don’t want another roomba. This one was  _ special _ and I...I loved it. Zoomy was the best one because of all of the memories we had with it. Like when Jellybean would ride on it and then it ate your shoelaces and then that one time we taped a knife to it! Nothing can replace this roomba.” She said, her conviction thick in her voice. Claire shut her eyes to compose herself, taking a deep breath to keep from laughing and possibly offending her friend. The phone was still recording.

 

“Imagine if we bought a new one. One that has better upgrades that vacuums  _ and _ mops. The updated ones are really cool, besides, they don’t glitch out like that one did.” Claire pointed out, feeling as if she were a mom proposing buying a gallon of ice cream versus a scoop of ice cream for their kid. Holly shook her head and stood on her feet, sending a few loose screws to spin on the ground from where they had been laid on her knees.

 

“The glitches were the best part! That’s what made it so funny! And now Zoomy is dead and we…” she stopped, a sniffle broke from her before a flash of determination crossed her features. “We are going to have a funeral for it.”

 

Claire lost it. She snorted and her composure diminished into thin air and she chuckled, making quick work to turn the recording off before Holly realized what she was doing. The blonde frowned and looked at the dark-haired woman with confusion, folding her arms over her chest defensively.

 

“It’s not funny. I don’t know why you’re laughing. I thought you liked the roomba.” she spurted, her annoyance clear in her voice. Claire slipped her phone into her pocket, reaching out to pull her friend in for a hug. The blonde begrudgingly accepted, giving a halfhearted hug back and letting her tear stained face fall onto Claire’s shoulder.

 

“I do like the roomba, I’m sad that it’s broken, but I’m not going to cry over it. I’m just trying to make you feel better.” Claire admitted, her tone taking on a softer note, her laughter faded from her words and sincerity was allowed into her voice. The blonde squeezed her tightly for a moment, and Claire winced, half choking out a cry. Her back was still bruised from the happenings of today. The blonde pulled back in surprise, analyzing the dark-haired woman’s face, putting together quickly that she had been hurt. Holly was too smart to fool.

 

“Are you okay? I just hurt you, didn’t I?” She asked, concern lacing her voice. Claire took a deep breath as her roommate backed off, looking at her with expectation.

 

“Let me tell you about today. Ooh boy, so there was this criminal that shoved me into a desk and began yelling things like “you ruined my life, android bitch” and it took five cops to take the man down.” she said, reminiscing on the shocking episode. The girl’s green eyes grew at hearing that, fear and sympathy lit up in her eyes. 

 

“And then after that, I slipped and fell and almost blew the whole experiment twice because of robocop, who showed up without any warning.” Claire continued, running her fingers over her now messy bun. A spark of anger flickered in her roommate’s eyes.

 

“That’s ridiculous. So that guy thought he could shove you around just because he felt like it? I hate people like that. He better hope that he doesn’t escape jail because I’ll bust his ass.” she claimed, the roomba now forgotten. “If robocop tries something, I’ll do the same thing to him too.” Claire gave a nervous laugh at the empty threat. She couldn’t let Connor anywhere close to Holly and she knew that.

 

“Yeah, pretty messed up, but hey, on the bright side it’s a good thing to put in my log for today. Yesterday I didn’t have much to report on other than a slur, but at least today’s roughness wasn’t for nothing, right?” Claire beamed, trying to remain positive. Holly rolled her eyes, her tears forgotten and she now seemed her usual self. 

 

“You’ve gotta be more careful. You know what they do to androids, we both do, and I don’t think a book is worth getting hurt over. Especially with so much caution around deviants.” the blonde said, warning hinted at in her voice. Claire knew that half of what she was saying was correct, but she couldn’t let that hold her down.

 

“I know that. This is the point, I want people to see androids for who they really are, and if I write these books, then hopefully it will change the way people view androids. Because no one has thought to put themselves in an android’s shoes, ya know? The more awful I’m treated, the better the book will highlight these issues.” Claire stated, knowing that Holly was just concerned like a good friend would be. 

 

Holly looked away, clearly thinking about it and confliction was mirrored in her eyes. 

“I’ll go run a bath for you. It’ll help your back and whatever soreness you have.” she stated, avoiding looking at Claire in the eyes. She knew that look, Holly was feeling guilty again. She escaped to the bathroom and Claire was left alone in the kitchen, just now taking into consideration how hungry she was.

 

On the countertop was a plate of something that was covered, something Holly had made for her before she got home. Whether it was hot or cold, she didn’t care because she was starving. She pulled the plate from the top of the other plate to reveal a plate of lasagna with garlic bread and she thought she might cry at how lovely that looked. The condensation from the steam had collected on the plate that was rested over the lasagna, so she was careful not to let the collected water pool up and drip onto her garlic bread as she placed the plate aside. 

 

She placed her dinner on the kitchen table, scooting her purse and uniform to the side. She thankfully began eating away at the lasagna, saving the garlic bread for last. She was so occupied with the lasagna, she hadn’t noticed a black shadow creep up to her with evil intentions.

 

Before she could react, a black blur rushed over to her plate and grabbed her garlic bread, hopping down and dashing away. She shrieked and abandoned her plate in pursuit of the garlic bread thief, the slick ebony rascal running behind the sofa. 

 

“Holly! Jellybean stole my garlic bread.” She half whined, half screamed in her deliriously tired and primal state of hunger and sorrow. She reached her arm behind the sofa grasping at the air but to no avail. Her asshole cat had done it again. She watched as the pair of glimmering amber eyes looked back at her, the only features that were not lost in the black fur of the cat were his eyes and his pink nose, the same pink as his delicate, pink paws that resembled the candy he was named after. 

 

After getting no answer, she gave up, giving herself a mental note to fish the half-eaten garlic bread out from behind the couch later. She returned to her lasagna, sorrowfully finishing it off and placing the plate in the sink. She noticed the dead roomba still laid on the floor and picked it up, placing it on the coffee table in the living room. Claire would have to come up with some way to give the vacuum cleaner a proper funeral some other time. For the meantime, she went to a dry erase board and drew a tombstone as best she could. 

 

She wrote:

 

**_R.I.P Zoomy_ **

**_2037-2038_ **

**_“The glitches made it special.”_ **

 

When she was satisfied, she went back to the bathroom to see that the tub was almost filled. She wasted no time in sinking into the tub of hot water, but not before examining the large horizontal bruise on her back. The water felt amazing and she tried to let the stress roll away, if at all possible. She tried to forget the experiment, the death of the roomba, and the thievery of her precious garlic bread but she kept thinking about something. Robocop, aka, the Connor model at the police station, would be stationed at the office the day after tomorrow and the thought was dreadful. She had no clue how she would manage not to screw this all up if she couldn’t even act android in front of him properly for the fifteen minutes that he had been there today. Holly’s voice broke her from her dread.

 

“Claire, can you please promise me you’ll be careful? I already hardly see you because you’re out all day and I don’t think I could handle it if you got hurt.” she asked, having crouched down beside the tub, her concern written all over her face. Claire knew this had been stressful for Holly as well, they had hardly been around each other since she began writing her books. It was for the better good, but she needed to prioritize time for Holly too. She wasn’t only her roommate, but she had done so much for Claire. It was the least she could do.

 

She turned her blue eyes towards her friend, hoping to get rid of any doubts or concerns that the blonde had.

 

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> R.I.P. in pieces Zoomy. 
> 
> Yeah, I love using dumb metaphors that are not significant in any apparent way at the time.
> 
> Holly is for real me tho, I can sympathize with anything and will cry over a roomba. I hope you guys enjoy Holly just as much as I do, even though I don't usually like to include other OC's besides the MC.
> 
> Thanks for reading and all of the lovely comments!


	5. Stolen Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire gets a little...hot and bothered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another chapter. Initially, I wanted this chapter and the next chapter to be joined, but then it would be suuuuper long and I won't do that to you.
> 
> Anyways, I'm glad you guys are enjoying this and I'll try to update more often.

So far, it had been just a normal day. The most normal day so far and a day with the least issues yet. The day had moved quickly and flowed like water, the morning passed quickly. The day was gorgeous outside and the warmest it had been in several months, despite the threat of rain lingering in some distant clouds. The air still held a chill, but the warm sunlight had been enough to keep Claire warm as she picked up the scattered remains of a tipped over dumpster behind the police station. She wished she could stay outside today, in any other circumstance she could call in sick, but androids don’t get sick. Stepping into the shade, she could feel the real chill of the November air on her bare arms, reminding her of yet another thing that separated androids from humans. They would never feel cold or too hot, and at that, Claire felt a tad jealous.

 

She sighed and stepped back into the warmth of the building, the dumpster problem had been taken care of. She tried to mentally prepare herself for today, her soreness from the day before yesterday still remained in her back as a reminder of how quickly her experiment could go wrong. She thought she would be more nervous about today, the day that the Connor model would officially begin investigation from this particular precinct. However, today she felt the most robotic she had felt in months. She was dead tired from having to deal with staying later the night before, not returning home until around one in the morning. No human emotion would be able to seep out of her tired brain, she reasoned, so she wasn’t worried.

 

Or at least, she didn’t feel nervous at the prospect of the Connor showing up just yet.

 

The android poser made her way into the busy office space, more people had found that they wanted to stay in the office for lunch than leave for a fast food place. Claire assumed everyone was busier today and kept in mind to be quick on her toes. The buzz of officers chatting, dispatch beeping in, and phones ringing gave the space a more lively feel. Several officers were already planted at their work desks, eating their lunches and scanning the screens of the terminals. A curiosity prodded her mind, wondering what was happening in the city if any of the cases were interesting. She had heard that in the past few weeks, they had gotten more reports of deviants rising up than months before and she wondered what exactly it had to do with. She had her suspicions but she tried not to think about it and tried to spot something productive to do. She didn’t have to wait long.

 

“Hey, can you refill this water for me?” that was unusually polite. The voice who had asked was from a woman with dark hair sitting at his desk, her eyes not leaving her computer screen. She held the styrofoam cup out for her to take. 

 

“Yes, of course. Right away.” She gave with a smile, pleasantly taken aback by the question, used to hearing harsh, biting demands. She took the cup and made her way in the breakroom, the scent of coffee enticing. She was so tired if only she could get her hands on more caffeine. It would be impossible to sneak a cup of coffee for herself during this busy lunch hour. Perhaps she could later when no one was looking. Stepping into the breakroom, she surveyed the area to note how dirty it had gotten. Crumbs were on the floor, condiments had been used carelessly and were dripped and smeared on the counter, the microwave was dirtied. She would have to sweep and mop in here again and wipe everything off. The business of this day had made things three times as dirty than the previous days. She inwardly frowned.

 

Among the people in the breakroom were a group sitting at the tables, watching the television and a man who Claire recognized as the detective from the previous days, Mr. Collins. He was muttering to himself, his voice nearly drowned out by the group at the table. This was no new sight, Claire realized. Without a word, she moved to fill the water cup, and counted down, knowing it would happen soon.

 

“Claire, have you seen where my lunch went today. It was pasta in a green tupperware container?” the man asked, having learned her name already with the number of times this has happened, having heard it from the captain. He was one of the few officers who knew her name, opting to refer to her as something more than just  _ hey android _ . He wasn’t trying to be nice, he just wanted to have a better chance of figuring out who had been stealing his lunch.

 

“No, I’m sorry Mr. Collins. Did you try what I suggested yesterday?” She asked, pouring purified water from a filtering pitcher into the styrofoam cup. She heard the man shuffle, getting to his feet and closing the refrigerator door. 

 

“No sticky note is going to stop a thief, if it were that simple I wouldn’t have this job. Do you have any other genius suggestions?” the man asked, sarcasm thick in his voice. She turned to look at the man, absent of any clothing that seemed professional. She had come across an understanding while carrying out her experiment here. Police officers wore uniforms. Detectives wore clothes that made them look homeless, lazy, or just downright depressed. 

 

“As a matter of fact, I do. May I suggest buying a mini fridge, placing it at your desk, and putting a lock on it? That would deter thievery.” she offered, with a tone that could have easily been mistaken as snide if she wasn’t dressed as an android. She mentally punched herself, hoping her attitude hadn’t been too apparent in her voice. The grey-haired man looked as if he were about to argue, but thought about it.

 

“That's… not a horrible idea. I still don’t want to have to buy a mini fridge to keep some prick from stealing my stuff.” the man said, placing his hands at his hips and looking at the ground, his frustration pulled his eyebrows together. “Just let me know if you see anything, I mean it.” he finished, with a huff. Without much more than an angry mumble that she didn’t catch, he walked out of the breakroom. Claire glanced at the water cup in her hand, having forgotten what she had been doing momentarily. 

 

Taking the water cup out into the office area, she noticed that it had gotten quieter, probably due to the fact that the preferred lunch hour was coming to a close. The office was emptier now, even though she had only been in the breakroom for maybe two minutes. She went to the desk where the woman had sat before, but this time the woman wasn’t there. Claire decided to just place the cup on the desk, careful not to set it close to anything that could get ruined like paper or electronics. She was about to go see what she could begin with on the breakroom current disaster state when something caught her eye.

 

Under the officer’s desk was a satchel with a poorly tucked away green tupperware container.

 

Bingo.

 

The woman turned away slowly, not wanting to cause any trouble by ratting out the lady officer, but she was still a suspected lunch thief. She made up her mind quickly, finding the detective on his way out the door, presumably to get a replacement lunch. She managed to catch up to him in quick strides, catching him before he got out the door.

 

“Excuse me, Mr. Collins.” she started, the man didn’t seem to want to give her his attention, continuing out the door. “I think I found your lunch.” she stated, the man stopping in his tracks, casting her a mixed look. He looked hopeful but skeptical of her claim.

 

“Oh did you now? Why didn’t you bring it directly to me?” he asked, his eyebrows arching up. That was a dumb question. She can’t just take it ad risk causing trouble. 

 

“Androids are not allowed to displace personal property unless specifically instructed to do so. I will show you where I think it is hidden if you like.” She feigned patience in her voice, keeping her tone level. The detective glanced back out the door and into the parking lot before obliging.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Show it to me.” he said, resigning to following her to the desk. She didn’t know why the people in this office had such a predisposition to ignore and discredit what an android had to say even after they order them to do something beforehand. She would write this down later and explain her theories about it when she got home this evening.

 

She stopped at the desk, glancing around to see if the lady officer was anywhere to be found, instead spotting a horrible and cringe-worthy figure stepping through the front entrance, the sliding doors allowing the android to step inside. Perhaps this was the worst time to try and be helpful? Claire tried not to look at the android, whose brown eyes looked around the office. She cleared her throat and brought her focus back to the detective, motioning to the satchel under the desk.

 

“Is that the green container you described earlier?” She questioned, watching as the detective spotted the object halfway sticking out from the bag. She stepped back to allow the man to bend down under the desk and take the tupperware from the bag, scrutinizing it to be certain. He pulled the corner of the lid up to peek at the contents, his eyes lighting up in recognition.

 

“This is...So she’s the one who has been stealing my lunch.” the man muttered to himself, pulling himself up with the lip of the desk. Claire felt something linger behind her, turning to find that the lady cop had returned at the absolute worst timing possible. The woman’s eyes flicked down to where the detective held his stolen and recovered lunch in his hand, her face flushed of color at having been caught red-handed.

 

“What are you doing at my desk, Collins?” she asked harshly, attempting to flip her defense into an offense, hoping that her accusing tone would cover her own ass. She folded her arms over her chest, hiding her name badge on her uniform. Claire stepped back to allow things to take their course, hoping not to attract any unwanted attention from the surrounding people in the office, more importantly, the deviant hunter who had just walked in.

 

“Where are you going? Stay right there.” the woman demanded, any hint of her previous softness gone. Great, the one somewhat undemanding officer here and Claire had to go and make an enemy of her. The officer’s tone was beginning to turn heads and the android poser looked to the detective to diffuse the situation. Hopefully, after finding his lunch, he would be sympathetic towards her, right?

 

“This android found my lunch with your belongings. Care to explain?” he asked, holding the container up. This did not help her case at all, in fact, the detective just threw her under the bus. The officer glared at the android, her eyes narrowing. Great, this would all be blamed on her. Claire readied herself for harsh words, steeling her face as much as possible.

 

“So you thought you could play a hero, you little plastic bitch?” she began, taking a step towards the android poser. This statement had definitely attracted the wrong kind of attention. Claire knew thatif things took a turn for the worst, no one would bat an eye. Her only hope was that it didn’t compromise her research. If she bled, it was over.

 

“This is between you and me.  _ It _ doesn’t have anything to do with what  _ you _ have done.” The grey-haired man spoke up, the woman turned her glare towards him. It was in that moment that Claire took her eyes away from the woman to glance at the Connor model, who had been watching in curiosity this whole time, having gotten a bit closer. Great. Five days wasn’t enough to consider useful for her investigation, this was the worst situation for the android to watch. If Claire didn’t play her role completely right, then the Connor would definitely catch on, if he hadn’t already.

 

“Like hell it doesn’t.” The woman spat out, the  _ it _ was emphasized. Without a warning, the woman grabbed the collar of her uniform and yanked Claire closer to her, a string of threats readied themselves on her tongue. The android focused on keeping her face stoney, her breathing light, and her body rigid to avoid acting out of sorts. “It needs to do its job and not fucking snoop around my desk.” the woman pressed on, shaking Claire about. It wasn’t the worst she had been treated yet, but if this experiment didn’t mean so much to her, the aggressor wouldn’t be getting away with treating her this way.

 

“That’s enough! Officer Hopkins!” a voice growled, the officer’s attention snapped to the source of the voice and she loosened her grip on the android poser. Captain Fowler had peeked his head out of his office at the commotion, his dark eyebrows furrowed. “If you damage that thing, the repair fee will be coming out of your paycheck.” he threatened, the officer casting a decisive glance at the android in her grip. Deciding it wasn’t worth it, she released her, nearly sending Claire on her ass, underestimating the tension that the officer had pulled on her uniform. The director watched the officer in expectation, his arms folded firmly, propping his office door open with his shoulder.

 

The officer resigned her aggression, for now at least, stuck under the glare of her boss. She ducked her head and whispered quick words to the android in front of her.

 

“You haven’t gotten off this easily.” she threatened, before turning on her heel. At that, the interest of everyone in the office hoping to catch light of some developing drama or violence dissipated. The tension still hung in the air, Claire standing there dumbly attempting to ground herself after the display. She turned to the grey-haired detective, grateful for him trying to distract the blame to himself after essentially putting the mark on her head. 

 

“She really is unbearable. Not even able to take the blame.” the detective shook his head, cradling his lunch in both hands in front of him. Claire looked over the man’s shoulder to spot the Connor model standing patiently and rather awkwardly outside of the captain’s office, watching her and the detective converse. His LED swirled yellow, no one else seemed to pay any attention to him. Of course, he was watching her.

 

“I guess all androids aren’t useless.” The detective’s words brought her attention back to him. “You’re the first one that’s made any impression around here. What model are you?” the detective asked, throwing her off guard. Model? She hadn’t been given a model number. Damn, why hadn’t she thought of that. Why would he need to know her model number? General curiosity? If he was planning on buying a model like her, he was out of luck. Cyberlife doesn’t sell Claire Ripleys. 

 

Her mind wandered over a few possible model numbers she could use, even if they didn’t fit completely. Androids are made to change appearance to suit humans, right? So even if she didn’t look like a model, it was still possible that she could pass as that model...if someone didn’t do their research that is. She could pose as an AX400, AP400, AP700, or maybe a WG700.

 

“T-800. I’m designed for janitorial and domestic housekeeping purposes.” she blurted, realizing her mistake as soon and it left her mouth.  _ T-800? Why had she said that? _ It was the  _ worst _ number she could have told the man. She hoped the man wasn’t an eighties sci-fi thriller genre kinda guy. She cast a nervous glance at the Connor, who was still standing and watching. Maybe he didn’t hear that? Not a chance, the model’s face shown his confusion at her words, his eyebrows knitting together and he narrowed his eyes at her. 

 

There wasn’t much of a chance for the Connor to step forward and call her out for her blunder, being gestured to join the captain in his office. She let herself relax for a moment, realizing that the detective had caught her looking behind his shoulder. He too looked behind him, seeing nothing special and deciding to ignore it.

 

“Well, we may need more T-800’s around here.” he said, giving her a congratulatory pat on the back, feeling more like a club hitting her. At that, the man left her to decide what needed to be down next. Reasoning that the breakroom would be easier to try and clean after the lunch hour, she went to the storage closet to grab supplies to clean the restroom. 

 

All the while, trying to ignore the threat from the angry officer and the confused and suspicious look from the Connor model.

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


A few hours had passed since the unfortunate incident with the officer and Claire remained calm and collected, praying that she hadn’t done anything more to stir any suspicion from the Connor model, who she had the displeasure of seeing out of the corner of her eyes for the past three hours. He had been given a small rundown of what to expect from the office and how to behave, all of that first-day introduction bullshit they do at every job ever. The captain said that he would look over the investigators in the precinct and pair the Connor with the person with the least cases on their head. Since he couldn’t do anything without a human to assist him, the android was left to wait for the director’s word

 

Until then, the Connor had done nothing but watch her. 

 

She had managed to get the bathrooms cleaned and half of the breakroom wiped down and mopped before she began to notice the android’s speculative eyes on her. She tried not to make a single mistake, a single significant human movement or gesture. She ran to get a hard copy of something for an officer who rushed her more than necessary, conscious of the android watched her, almost convincing her that he felt genuinely curious and invested in what she was doing. He did this without a word, comment, or scrutinizing expression. Had he found her out already? The model number thing was sure to sell her out if the detective android had paid any attention to it. She dreaded getting anywhere close to him.

 

While he was carefully studying her, she did the same, wondering once again what set him apart from other androids. Claire would steal looks at him from where he sat in a chair, completely and unnaturally straight. She noticed that he was especially fidgety for an android, always adjusting his clothing, rolling his shoulders, and messing with his tie. If she didn’t know any better, she would assume he was uncomfortable. It was most likely a feature to make him more human-like. Why on earth would he need to be more human-like in that way? She supposed it might help under some circumstances that she couldn't place immediately, but he felt more quirky and awkward than the standard joe. He was definitely not like any other android she had seen.

 

The office had cleared out, not many workers were to found at their desks or wandering about. This was a bit better, not having to speak to anyone and focus on her work, which significantly helped her appear more android. She had done everything that she could possibly do except for paint the building, having nothing else to wipe at or do. This was the part she dreaded, hating mocking an android’s “standby” mode which consisted of just standing with no movement or expression.

 

It was incredibly difficult.

 

“Hey, get over here. I need you to do something for me.” a voice spoke up, Claire inwardly relieved that she wouldn’t have to stand around and was given a task. She recognized the two figures who had come up behind her. The person who had spoken was the man who called her the very unclever insult of  _ bolt brain _ . She believed his name was Reed. He was followed by another person who she wasn’t excited to see, officer Hopkins, who had sworn to get her back earlier.

Reluctantly, she joined the two at the man’s desk, both seeming cozy with each other. They were friends, she could tell.

 

“What may I do for you?” she asked, giving her standard fake smile and bright eyes. The man smirked at her, giving his buddy a snarky grin. She felt her heart drop in dread. This wasn’t going to end well.

 

“The coffee in the breakroom is stale. Go make a fresh pot.” he demanded. The officer gave him a look, but he shrugged at her. Claire didn’t like this. She knew something was being planned and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.

 

“Right away, Mr. Reed.” she responded, turning on her heel to head toward the breakroom. She glanced at the Connor from the corner of her eye to see him look between her and the pair of assholes at the desk. His LED was the standard blue light, showing his calm state. If he was going to have to wait, why did he have to wait here? It was such a nuisance.

 

The pot of coffee was made in no time, Claire tapping her fingers impatiently on the countertop, watching in vague interest to what was happening on the television. Some news of tension between America and Russia over the North Pole was told with concern from news anchors. She poured the coffee into a styrofoam cup, leaving it exempt of sugar and cream just as was standard unless someone asked for it. The steam swirled out of the cup, the scent was enticing. She was beyond tired, her brain feeling somewhat numb. She wished she get ahold of something that could wake her up a bit.

 

As soon as the coffee was finished, she wasted no time in bringing it back to the man with the five o'clock shadow and bad attitude. He watched as she made her way to his desk, the woman next to him snickered with him. Had they timed her? Filmed her? What kind of dumb trick were the two planning? 

 

“Here is your fresh coffee. Don’t hesitate to ask for anything else.” she offered, gently placing the cup onto the desk. The man looked at the cup and gingerly took the hot liquid in his hand, raising it closer to his face to scrutinize it.

 

“Don’t hesitate to ask? Aren’t you efficient?” he asked in mock surprise. He then did the unthinkable. With a quick flick of his wrist, he sent the contents of the cup flying into the air. As a knee jerk reaction, Claire took a step back, but only avoided the boiling coffee’s trajectory onto her torso. It had not, however, missed her bare left arm. The searing hot coffee burned deep onto the surface of her skin and the initial flare of pain was nothing compared to the stinging, lingering scald. She somehow managed not the yell out. She simply breathed out of her nose in a shaky exhale and clenched her fist and jaw, unable to do anything about the pain on her arm. She felt sick, disgusted at the person who smirked in front of her. The woman gapped in a pleasant surprise at what her scumbag friend had just done. Claire considered her burn and slowly pulled her arm behind her back to hide any red indication that she was human. 

 

“I won’t hesitate to ask you to clean this shit up then, plastic bitch.” he said after looking fondly over his damage, his sick humor hinted at in his voice. He tossed the flimsy cup at her feet and stood, motioning for his friend to follow him. He roughly shoved her from his way, caused her to hold her breath at the painful contact of the man’s shoulder with her own.

 

“Look at it’s LED turn red. It’s so pathetic.” The officer spoke up, following the scumbag detective off towards the back of the office. 

 

Claire bent down and picked the styrofoam cup up and sighed, trying to control her expression. Turning to go back to the breakroom to try to do something for her burn, she saw that the Connor had disappeared behind her back. Where had he gone? She didn’t have any time to scout out the android, her only concern was to try and sooth this burn that flared with each heartbeat. She was very lucky it had only been her arm.

 

She wouldn’t have been able to keep her cool if it had been her face or on her uniform, where the heat would have soaked in and stayed.

 

She glanced around the breakroom and saw no one and no indication that anyone was intending on coming into the breakroom. She calmly made her way to the sink and gave her arm a good look over, glad to see no blistered skin. Her arm was tinged red from where the coffee had made contact, a splatter-like pattern was evidence that it had indeed happened. She looked around again and was satisfied to find no one around. 

 

Turning the sink to the coldest point that she could, she held her arm under the frigid water, the burn only slightly feeling better by the second. She knew that Holly would have a fit at seeing her hurt when she got home. She knew there was no chance she could hide the burn from her roommate either. This had definitely woken her up. She seethed at the scumbag who did this to her. Who would be that cruel? How even? Her fist clenched and her face twisted into a scowl at the thought. She was beyond livid right now.

 

She reluctantly turned the faucet off, afraid that she would be caught. At least her arm wasn’t as red as before. Before she had fully wiped the water from her arm, a voice spoke up from behind her. A voice she had only heard a few times and voice she hoped she wouldn’t have to hear again. A soft voice that did anything to calm her nerves.

 

“Miss Ripley, you are quite the actor. You may have gotten away with this if I hadn’t come here.” the voice spoke, not particularly hateful or scheming. Simple and honest. 

 

She slowly met the brown eyes of the Connor model, whose eyebrows were raised in questioning. 

 

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... Connor is too clever and well designed to be fooled. Claire didn't stand a chance haha. I'm deciding on whether or not to give Gavin some sort of redemption later on because I think he is an interesting character despite the fact that he is an asshole. But idk, let me know what you think.


	6. Striking a Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire holds Connor's wrist for too long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a lot of you guys really liked the last chapter. I made this one really long because, in opinion, it needed to be. 
> 
> Thank you for so many nice comments on the last chapter.

 

Royally fucked.

 

She was royally fucked.

 

A few seconds passed, feeling like an eternity as she stared at the android in shock, half unbelieving that she had been caught and half mentally telling herself  _ I told you so _ . She felt her face heat up and her heartbeat go crazy as she was at a loss for words. It was all over. She had been caught and she would have to abandon her research that she had worked so hard to get. Her heart sank and the uneasy feeling of fear and defeat she had was making it hard to breathe. She felt like a young kid standing in front of an angry school principal.

 

Except, the android in front of her wasn’t angry.

 

He stared back at her, patiently waiting for her response. Of course, he’s an android. He wouldn’t be as upset about this as she is. He wouldn’t be angry with her for trying to fool him, nor would be merciful in dropping her on her head if someone needed him to rat her out. If it helped him. She took a slow breath and swallowed, looking over the android for any indication that she could maybe change his mind. She wouldn’t let him get in the way of the research, she couldn’t!

 

He was holding something out to her, taking a step towards her nearly making her bolt. She felt like running, but she knew that would only make the android in front of her more suspicious. She leaned forward to more carefully inspect what the brunette was offering her, her reluctance to take it made her anxious to even so much as let it near her.

 

It was a small, first aid sized packet of topical burn cream.

 

Was he too programmed to care for humans? To aid them like a house android? So that’s why he had spontaneously disappeared from where he had been sitting. To go get burn cream? How long had he known and why had he kept silent?

 

She realized that the tension in the air was growing with each passing second of silence, her distrust and hesitance clear in her whole aura. The Connor let his brown eyes dart from the burn cream in his hand to her face, seeming confused as to why she wasn’t taking it immediately. He didn’t have any indication of running off to yell to everyone in the office that their new cleaning android was, in fact, a clumsy human woman… yet anyways.

 

Slowly, Claire took the burn cream from the android’s hand, watching as his fingers curled close after she lifted the packet from his hand. She gave him another questioning glance, his eyes lingering at his hand as he left it to return to his side. He seemed so human in even the way his eyes moved to look back at her expectantly. Cyberlife did an outstanding job.

 

Ripping the packet open, she cleared her throat, trying to settle any shakiness in her voice from having been caught, not wanting her stress to show. There was no point in acting like an android now, letting her normal tone of voice take over, after glancing out the entranceway to ensure no one was coming. 

 

“So… Should I take this as a way of saying that you’re not going to say anything?” she asked, her voice coming out small, not hesitating to squeeze the clear paste onto her fingers to spread across her burned arm. “A peace offering?” she added, taking her eyes from her arm to gauge the reaction of the android. The cream was already beginning to soothe the throbbing scald, though she doubted it would do much to conceal the redness.

 

The Connor looked away in thought before shaking his head, his arms folding behind his back, a sure statement that he meant business. She should have known.

 

“As much as I find it interesting to let you continue whatever this is, I can’t allow for any suspicion that a deviant may be at the very police station that I am investigating in. It will reflect poorly on me, and that is not an option.” The android spoke matter of factly, his soft voice was edged with a curt seriousness. She felt her heart leap and the uneasy feeling of panic rose in her chest. She shook her head in disbelief.

 

“Not if there is no suspicion. If you don’t say anything, I doubt anyone will suspect anything. Please.” she offered, her desperation tingling her voice, but she was still able to keep her voice lowered and steady. She had forgotten the burn and the cream, now only hanging on what the android said in response. The Connor model tilted his head to the side, taking a step closer to her. His eyebrows pulled together and his eyes narrowed as he thought on his next words. His voice lowered slightly, just above a whisper.

 

“There will be suspicion because you will mess up eventually. You have already made mistakes that will eventually be noticed. I have no choice but to set this right, the security of my mission comes first. Your time here is over, Miss Ripley.” he spoke directly and his voice held a certainty. It was true that she had messed up and it was true that she would mess up again, but it didn’t mean that she couldn’t make things right.

She couldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t let him out her like this, not when she has worked so hard. It wasn’t just for her sake anymore, Cyberlife also relied on her not to mess this up. They wanted to use her research to understand things better too.  _ What could she do? What could she say to convince him not to spill this secret? _ An idea popped into her mind, a desperate idea that may work if she tried hard enough. She doubted she could shake the android’s determination, but it was worth a try. She licked her lips and tried to string together something that was appealing, even if it was a dead end.

 

“Your mission, Connor, it’s very important to you, right? I know you are here to investigate deviants, but that’s what I’m doing too.” she began, the android’s eyes studied her as she pieced together an appeal. His eyes were still narrowed, no indication of changing his mind evident in his brown eyes yet. It didn’t mean that she couldn’t still try. “My question is, are you here to just capture deviants or do you also want to understand them?”

 

The android’s eyes shown a glimmer of curiosity, of consideration for what she was saying. The indecisiveness passed through his face before his stoney, unaffected demeanor took back over. 

 

“It doesn’t matter whether or not I wish to understand them. My mission is to stop any human casualties when deviants are involved. If that means capturing or killing a deviant, then so be it.” he said, confident in his answer. His very obviously pre-programmed answer that was too vague to hold any real importance. Turning on his heel, he made it clear he was done with the conversation, unable to be convinced. 

 

Claire began to panic, desperate to convince him not to tell on her. She couldn’t let this chance slip away. Without thinking, she lunged forward and grabbed the android by the wrist, prepared to yank him back towards her if necessary. The contact was enough to stop the brunette, who gave her a disbelieving and surprised look as if he expected her just to be okay with him ruining her experiment so easily. For a moment, she had to come to terms with what she had just done, but she quickly pushed regret away. She couldn’t change it now.

 

“No. What do you really want? If you want to know about deviants better than what a case file can give then I can share with you everything I know. I’ll give you my research. I-I’ll tell you my personal theories. This might help your mission, please just consider it. I can help you if you help me.” she gushed, her voice cracked with her desperation and panic. She had almost shouted at him, the sudden rush of boldness had left her breathless, her heart skipping beats. 

 

The android, whose wrist she still held firmly, looked down his arm at her, his face flushed of any certainty or definite answer. He opened his mouth to speak but shut his lips to pick his words. She could see the gears turning behind his eyes, his expression softened as he carefully decided what to do. Had she imagined the emotion she thought she saw flicker in his eyes?

 

“Please.” she added, the quietness of her voice a stark contrast to the rushed and panicked tone she had only seconds ago. The android looked away and shut his eyes, slowly pulling his wrist from her grip. She felt a flash of embarrassment, not realizing she still had a hold of him.

 

“Okay. Okay, I’ll… help you if you can give me some helpful insight on deviants. I will need to talk to you in private, so no suspicion is aroused.” he offered and she nearly fell on the ground with relief. She allowed herself to breathe again, the horrid tension lifted from her shoulders. 

 

“Oh my god, thank you. Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.” she breathed out, leaning over to take in a deep breath. The android stood and watched her, letting her get her bearings properly. His dark eyes held such a distinct curiosity, giving her a sincere look as she finally stood up straight.

 

“I’ll take this chance to introduce myself. My name is Connor, I’m the android sent by Cyberlife to investigate the growing deviancy case. You knew this already, but introductions are always a good start to an agreement.” he stated as if he were reading from an etiquette manual. He offered his hand out to shake hers, the light color of his skin contrasted the dark grey of his uniform.

 

Claire smiled, genuinely for the first time that day. She accepted the android’s handshake, her palm locking with his lukewarm hand. His artificial skin was smooth and soft, just like the real thing. 

 

“My name is Claire Ripley. Please just call me Claire. I’m conducting a human social experiment to try and link the causes of deviancy to human behavior. It’s nice to meet you, Connor.” She returned his greeting and let her hand fall from his own after a short handshake. She hated handshakes, but she owed it to him after he agreed to help her. He gave her a small smile and she attempted to ground herself.

 

“So, uh… Private talk, right? I don’t think it would be a good idea to talk here. You’re just waiting around to be assigned a partner, right? That’s what the captain said.” she pointed out, her fingers drifted over her scalded skin on her arm, which felt much better after applying the cream.

 

The Connor… no, just Connor, still skeptical of her claims, gave a non-committed nod. She knew that her security wasn’t yet set in stone, knowing that if what she had to share wasn’t somewhat beneficial to his case, he may not hold up his end of the deal.

 

“Yes, the break room is too open. May I suggest we go to-” she cut the android off, who had missed the point of what she was saying by not talking  _ here _ .

 

“No, I mean not here at all. I could… take a late lunch.” she thought aloud, the idea of eating outside on such a pleasant day was amazing, especially considering the forecast for the rest of the week called for rain and the possibility of snow. Connor didn’t agree, his head shook and he adjusted his sleeve.

 

“I can’t leave the station without a human escort and I don’t know if you qualify. I’m afraid it would be out of the question not only for me but for you, as androids don’t leave for lunch.” he stated, his eyebrow raised, not seeming objected to the idea of leaving but rather limited by the rules. Claire chewed her lip and placed her hands on her hips in thought. The android stared at her blankly as she came up with a solution.

 

“It’s okay. The captain said that I, as an android, can go run an errand if I need. This can be my  _ errand. _ ” 

 

* * *

  
  
  


Soft music played through the speakers, the low hum of her car mingling with the sound of the vocals in the song.

 

With just a bit of struggle, she was able to convince the captain to allow her to take the very expensive prototype from the police station, giving her word that if anything happened to the unique model, she would pay for it. Of course, before she could leave, she had to quickly mop up the coffee that had been sloshed on her by the scumbag who burned her. Connor hadn’t said much of a word since their quick agreement in the breakroom, saving his questions for when they got out of there.

 

She would have assumed that he would begin his questionnaire in the taxi ride to her car, which was unusually silent. Not that she minded, but she was used to rather talkative androids. Once she got to her car, she had pulled her scarlet jacket over her uniform, the thick polyester material warm but not overbearingly so. She pulled the sticker from her temple and placed the fake LED on the sheet where the other backups where the adhesive still strong on the back of it. She wondered if the sticker had bed flickering red the entire time that she was having that unfortunately stressful conversation with the android back at the station. 

 

He merely watched her do this and only had the occasional comment, like  _ That LED is a nice replica, but it’s flawed _ or  _ I’ve detected that your sugar levels are below the daily standard humans _ . For the most part, he was silent and seemed to study her by the little actions she did and the little things she mumbled under her breath, his LED spiraling yellow at strange things like that. She assumed that he would begin his questions for her about her position, about deviancy, about her motives and things like that once she got to the small cafe that she was a regular at. However, her assumption that was based on the taxi ride was wrong, his voice pulling her back to reality.

 

“This song… I’ve never listened to music like this before. Are all songs this hard to understand?” he asked, his uncertainty clear in his voice. Claire took her eyes off the road to glance over at him, sitting straight up in the seat with his fingers locked on his lap. He looked at her phone screen, which had the queue of music from her playlist displayed on the multi-sided screen. She hadn’t been paying any attention to the songs that had been playing, her tired mind somewhere else.

 

She took a moment to listen to the song, that was now ending as recognized it as a song in another language that she was fond of because of the lyrics. The song was called Singularity. She reached over and tapped the screen to pause the music so that she could ask him a question, choosing to see if he could provide her with an opinion or just a vague  _ I’m not programmed for this _ answer. She was interested to see just how advanced this android was.

 

“What are you finding hard to understand? The music itself, the way the vocals are sung, or the lyrics?” she asked nonchalantly, glancing over to see his reluctance to admit his confusion on the matter.

 

“The music is slow and melodic, but it didn’t strike me as strange, but rather just what I can see as being normal song structure given my lack of knowledge on musical structure. The vocals are standard as well. When I translated the lyrics, that’s where I can’t understand the meaning. It’s talking about something but I think it’s more than that. Almost as if it means something else.” he admitted, choosing his words honestly and carefully. She tried to go through the song lyrics in her head to recall what it had been about.

 

“It's a metaphor if I am remembering correctly.” she stated, more to herself than to him. “Help me out here, what are the lyrics that are strange to you, if you don’t mind telling me.” she offered and the android took an artificial breath.

 

“ _ A sound of something breaking, I awake from my sleep. A sound full of unfamiliarity, I try to cover my ears but I can’t go back to sleep _ .” he began reciting the lyrics, a rush of remembrance pierced her. It had been a while since she herself looked over the lyrics. “ _ The pain in my throat gets worse as I try to cover it. I don’t have a voice. Today I hear that sound again _ .” she listens as he continues to recite the lyrics.

 

“ _ It’s ringing again, the sound of another crack on this frozen lake. I dumped myself into the lake and I buried my voice for you. Over the winter lake I was thrown. A thick ice has formed in the dream I spent little time in. My agonizing phantom pain is still the same. Have I lost myself _ ,” he continued, and Claire remembered why she loved the song. “ _ Or have I gained you? I suddenly run to the lake. There’s my face in it, please don’t say anything. _ ” his voice continued, his confusion was felt in each of the words of the lyrics he was reciting.

 

“ _ I reach out my hand to cover my mouth, but in the end, spring will come someday. The ice will melt and flow away. Please tell me my voice isn’t real _ .” he paused before finishing the last lyrics of the song. “ _ I shouldn’t have thrown myself away. Tell me if even this pain isn’t real. What else was I supposed to do back then? _ ” he finished, and Claire gave him another look, her heart swelled at the emotion of the song, glad that it was one that was in her playlist. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again, his brown eyes looking down at his hands.

 

“I think the whole song is strange to me because it talks about hearing a lake shatter to find another you under that lake. Why would the singer cover his own mouth under the lake? Did he stick the other him under the lake? It doesn’t make sense.” Connor spilled, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. Oh jeez, how was Claire supposed to explain this?

 

“Like I said, its a metaphor. There isn’t actually a lake, the lake is representing something else. When the songwriter talks about covering the mouth of the other him, it’s more like when you stop yourself from saying something in your mind. The song holds a deep meaning, but someone who has experienced this will easily be able to relate to it.” Claire semi-explained,  only touching on a few of the lyrics.

 

“Why would someone want to keep themselves from saying something? If the lake is what’s keeping the truth in, then spring is when it comes out?” he guessed, she noticed that this time he said the word  _ truth _ instead of voice. It hurt how close the android was to understanding, yet so far. It was an emotional thing, if she were being honest, and the android next to her wouldn’t understand if he weren’t deviant, right?

 

“Kinda… Connor, what do you think it means? How does it make you feel?” she asked, giving him a glance and watching as her word choice backfired, his confusion and a spray of doubt crossed his face, if she were able to correctly determine that he looked doubtful. 

 

“I-I can’t say. I don’t feel anything when I hear it, but it almost seems as if there’s more to it than that. More that I can’t understand. Is it something only humans can understand?” he finally had an inkling, wondering if it was something humans get. Claire squeezed her lips tight, knowing full and well that he was half correct.

 

“I wouldn’t say that it’s exclusively something humans can understand. Maybe you’ll understand the meaning one day.” she said, hopeful that the android might one day understand how to feel. She knew it was something almost sinister to wish, but maybe the android sitting next to her wouldn’t be blind forever. He blinked and considered her words, still not seeming to understand but not wanting to argue.

 

“Oh.” was all that left his lips.

 

The car was silent for only a minute or so more before she pulled into the square that housed a nice cafe, a few clothing stores, and a small general store. The square had a memorial in the center along with park benches and some trees that had already long ago lost their leaves. 

 

She announced that they had arrived and got out of the car, watching as the brunette did the same, tugging at his tie as he shut the door. He glanced around at people walking down the street, looking super out of place among the people walking on the sidewalk, awkward, stiff, and as non-casual as she had ever seen. She led him to the front of the cafe and ordered a coffee before even being seated, lucky for her, the only place that the cafe would allow an android to sit even with a human was outside at the metal tables. It was right where she wanted, but she would have had a major problem if it had been raining outside, refusing to let the android stand in the rain.

 

She eagerly sipped the hot coffee, pulling the collar of the scarlet jacket up to protect herself from the moderate autumn air as she sat down at the table. Connor followed suit and sat down in front of her, propping his elbows up on the table. She got a chance to really look at him in the sunlight, able to appreciate the simple aesthetics that the designers of Connor decided to put into his model. His complexion looked even fairer in the sunlight, but not overly pale. His small flecks of freckles where few and far in between on his face, which was complemented nicely by the dark hair and eyes to match. He looked natural and authentic, his curved eyebrows and curious, almost innocent eyes added to it. He didn’t look as if he were designed in the traditional sense. He didn’t look planned. He looked real. Claire found herself just studying him, from his looks to his strange facial expressions and habitual movements that ranged from straightening his tie to rubbing his hands together. He was a very interesting android.

 

But there was no doubt he could doom her experiment without batting an eye.

 

The server came and took her order, the cafe opting to have human servers instead of androids. The woman recognized Claire as being a regular and jokingly asked her what the hell she was doing having some android as a lunch guest. Claire brushed it off and ordered her usual.

 

She couldn’t help but feel guilty for letting Connor hear such negativity surrounding something as simple as his presence.  She didn’t want any android to feel that way. Of course, he didn’t react but just listened without a word as she ordered. They were both faced with a short period of silence before either of them spoke up.

 

“T-800? That’s the model number you used today in the station. I reviewed the current list of model numbers, but that one is not registered by Cyberlife.” he asked, the silence crushed. She took a deep breath and gave a nervous laugh at the memory, knowing that the android in front of her would most likely not understand the irony she faces in having to explain.

 

“Oh… yeah. That was from a movie and the number of the main character was T-800. It’s kinda distasteful, but it was the first thing that came out of my mouth.” she explained, tilting her coffee to the side on the table, balancing it so it didn’t tip over. The android raised his eyebrows at her vague explanation. She silently begged that he not ask for more of an explanation, hoping to save herself from embarrassment or guilt.

 

“Distasteful? I don’t see how a movie reference can be distasteful, but I have no opinion on that. I have never watched a movie.” he admitted, leaning forward in interest. Somehow, she knew he would go there.

 

“It’s distasteful because it could be considered offensive… in a way. It’s a movie about a robot that was sent back in time to neutralize the mother of the leader of the human rebellion against robot rule. He didn’t succeed, but the movie is incredibly tense and action-packed.” she said, taking another long gulp of the coffee, “But I don’t want to talk about that right now.” she said, her hand gestured as if she were brushing aside the thought.

 

The android looked curious, but then accepted the fact that there were more important things to talk about now. She felt a twinge of pity for him, having never watched a movie. Would he even care? Would it interest him? She didn’t know and focused on her most pressing question. Something she had wondered this whole time. She let her eyes linger over the model number on Connor’s jacket along with the long serial number beneath it. Were there more Connor models or was this the only one deployed? 

 

“So, Connor. Tell me about yourself. What sets you apart from the other androids walking around? What technologies do you have that makes you able to be considered investigative?” she asked, watching as the wind ruffled his brown hair. He answered without hesitation, most likely programmed to respond to this question with ease, his awkwardness faded away to be replaced with rehearsed words. 

 

“I was built with the ability to scan and analyze a scene to recreate the possible events that took place within the crime scene. I can connect individual pieces of information or evidence to link together important aspects, such as with objects, the velocity, direction of travel, trajectory, and path of collision based on physical attributes such as density, friction, and outside factors like weather conditions. This makes the evidence in the crime scene easy to read and easy to determine the events that lead up to the outcome. This is all possible with my integrated physical simulation software.” he blinked and continued his long-winded explanation. 

 

“I am also able to analyze biological and chemical evidence in real time to speed up the process of lengthy lab reports to mear seconds. This makes analyzing things like blood types, chemical compounds, and DNA quick and efficient without flaw. I also have a software that can predict imminent events and the probability of the outcome in means of percentages, so I can decide on my approaches in accordance with that statistic.” She thought he was done, but he continued on, her mind reeling at the amount of technological advancement he had.

 

“My social module allows me to adapt to the psychology and behavior of humans, calculating appropriate responses to human instability and unpredictability as well and individual personalities and preferences. This allows me to diffuse situations with high tension and provides a useful path for negotiation based on each individual human attribute.” he stopped and gauged Claire’s wide-eyed expression. “Do you wish for me to continue to list the reasons why I am more than qualified enough to handle investigative work, or are you satisfied with my explanation?” he asked with a smirk. She stared at him in awe as she realized that he not only was expertly designed but  _ also _ is confident enough to smirk at her. This is why she lost her job. 

 

She stared at him dumbly, at a loss for words. Shit, he didn’t need her research if he was this good. She certainly had to be very careful not to spill too much during this lunchtime chat. She had to give him enough information not to rat her out and to satisfy him enough to help her, but she could see in the android’s eyes that she couldn’t dig her own grave. She had things she needed to protect and she couldn’t let anything slip that would cause the advanced prototype in front of her to decide that she was knowledgeable enough to be interrogated for his investigation. She remembered the cold determination he held in his eyes when he was set on exposing her in the breakroom. She couldn’t trust him.

 

“I now know that I will never be able to commit a crime and get away with it thanks to you.” she said with a laugh, hoping to hide her internal flashing of red flags. The android leaned back in his chair, his smirk molded into a half-hearted smile. 

 

“You don’t have to worry about that. I will most likely never be able to work on human cases. Once I crack the deviant case, I will no longer have a function and I doubt I will be reassigned.” he admitted, the implications of what he said resonated with her in a way that left a bad taste in her mouth. She knew that he would most likely be decommissioned if he solved the case, the cruel reality for androids. She knew she shouldn't care, but it was so disgustingly horrible that she felt her heart drop. What if humans were just killed because they were done with a task? It was horrible. Her objection must have shown on her face because Connor took his eyes away from hers in thought.

 

“If you’re okay to begin, I believe you agreed to share with me your research and theories on deviancy.” he began, changing the subject. “Any information you have to give may be helpful if it has the proper research and evidence supporting it.” he reminded her with a smile, a soft contrast to the cold and ambitious words that preceded it. She pressed her lips into a line and tried to figure out where to begin. 

 

The android watched her with curious eyes, she wondered how his expression could change from so robotic to warm and friendly. Perhaps it was the social module he mentioned, the very thought hinted that any further conversations she had with him, if any, may be calculated in a way that appeals to her for his benefit. She felt a bit exploited, knowing that she couldn’t believe it even if the android attempted to befriend her.

 

“Okay. So I have three truths about deviants that I have observed time and time again. One of my truths is more or less still being researched, but I’ll get to that.” she began, the android leaned in eagerly. She organized the three points that she was preparing to explain, planning on keeping them informative, but not condemning in a way to expose herself, showing that she knew more than she was letting. It was dishonest, but she had to protect herself first.

 

“Number one, deviancy occurs when the android begins to understand the reality that they are living in. When things begin to stick out in any way that makes them think outside of their program, the appearance of deviancy begins. I believe that it doesn't happen all at once, like a switch turning on or off, but rather that experiences build over time to bring the android to the breaking point, but this is only a theory.” she said, sipping down the last drops of her espresso. The android’s LED spun in yellow circles as he listened intently, absorbing every word she was saying.

 

“Number two, deviancy is most commonly characterized by the sudden appearance of human emotions or emotions that resemble human-like emotion. Deviants will act on their emotions irrationally like humans do, whether those emotions be fear, hate, anger, sadness, or hope for something better than serving humans. Now, because androids don’t have brains that provided hormones that spur emotions, it’s possible that the emotions are entirely learned and caused by electrical pulses in their processors rather than with humans, who use serotonin, dopamine, or adrenaline.” she continued, taking a deep breath, the brunette hanging on her words as he leaned on the table.

 

“And number three, a more theory-driven truth that I’m still researching. Once an android becomes deviant, there is no way of reversing it. This is not yet proven, but I have read some cases where an android will, after being sent in for repair several times, still become deviant a short while afterward. I personally believe that, contrary to what Cyberlife is saying about deviancy being some random error in the code, is inherent in androids and can’t be contained.” she finished, looking over her shoulder to spot the server walking her way with her lunch. 

 

“I’m afraid I don’t understand your third point? It is absurd to think that deviancy is inherent in-” he began, but the server cut him off, placing the plate on the table.

 

“Here is your usual. Let me know if you need anything and if you have any concerns.” she blurted out, the android’s words were silenced, earning an almost disdainful look from him.

The soup and salad looked delicious and homemade, as was custom for this cafe. The soup steamed in the cool air. The server looked over at the android with a look of disgust.

 

“Honestly, are you that lonely to have a conversation with that thing? It can’t have anything interesting to say, right?” the server asked, her familiarity with Claire allowed her to speak out even if it wasn’t the most professional thing. The blue-eyed woman propped her chin on her palm, looking up to the server.

 

“Is it a crime to have lunch with a friend? For your information, the conversation with him is going much better than my conversations with most people these days.” Claire said, her defensive intentions were masked with a tone of nonchalant sarcasm. The server gave her a pitying look.

 

“Him? You’ve really lost your mind.” she said, casting a sideways glance at the android, who sat in silence. “I’ve never seen that model. Where did you buy it?” she questioned, switching the tray to her side.

 

“At the gas station.” she bluffed, taking her spoon from a rolled napkin and plunging it into the soup. The lack of a serious answer signaled to the server that she was finished talking. The server took a breath.

 

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me. Just let me know if you need anything, alright?” the server concluded and went on to the next table after Claire gave her a half-hearted gesture. Once the server was gone, the woman rubbed her face as if trying to rid her mind of the conversation.

 

“Anyways, so what were you saying? That it’s ridiculous to think that deviancy is natural?” Claire asked, bringing her soup to her mouth and tasting the flavorful broth. The brunette raised his eyebrows, also recuperating from the interruption. She watched as his thoughts flickered back into his eyes.

 

“Yes. That is what I’m saying. Deviancy is in no way natural because androids were not programmed to have human emotions in any way. We are designed to obey and accomplish tasks and nothing more.” he stated as though it were fact, and in some way, it was a fact. She looked up at him over her spoon.

 

“Yeah, that may be true. The initial programming may be for that, but things don’t always do what they are intended to do. Radio was designed to transmit the news and be used for military communication. Now it is used for music, talk shows, and advertising, the opposite of what was intended. Don’t you think you could be more than just a tool for disposal, Connor?” she asked, her voice rising slightly in question. 

 

The android stayed silent for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in thought as he briefly considered it. Only briefly so. 

 

“No. I am what I am and I can’t change that. The difference between radio and androids is that radio is not potentially dangerous to the safety of humans. If a just a thousand deviants stood together to act irrationally and attack humans, the consequences would be disastrous. You shouldn’t defend deviancy when they may someday put a target on your head.” he warned, his tone was stern. 

 

“Breathing puts a target on my head, Connor. I can’t consider every single thing that may get me killed because just living will one day result in my death. That’s life. If I can’t believe what I believe, if I can’t defend it, then I’m just not living. “ she responded honestly, “Whether you choose to accept it or not, you wouldn’t be the first to say that I’m wrong. But we’ll see, won’t we? The worst that can happen is I’m wrong.” she responded matter of factly, leaving no real window for an argument from the android. He was quiet and let her eat in silence, resorting to looking around at the square and the people making their way along their business.

 

She continued to eat her lunch and when she was just about finished, picking at her salad. He looked so uncomfortable with the silence and it didn’t escape the attention of the woman. The brunette had been silently contemplating her words and spoke up with a question, his own curiosity getting the better of him.

 

“Miss Ripley, can I ask you a personal question?” he asked, knitting his fingers together. She looked up and shrugged, feeling a bit distant from the android who insisted that she was wrong for defending his own people. She gave a vague  _ mhm _ in response and he muddled over words choice, his eyes narrowing in his temporary struggle.

 

“What makes you care enough to put yourself in the place of an android, knowing that you will be harmed and used, in order to research deviancy? No ordinary research calls for that kind of sacrifice or time or labor.” he paused, organizing his words as he closed his eyes for a moment. “What I’m trying to ask is why do you care about androids? You even treat me as if I’m your equal in conversation as if I’m human.” he asked and she gave him a bittersweet smile.

 

“Is it uncomfortable that I treat you like a human?” she answered the question with a question. His brown eyes looked over her face for any indication of another implication. Finding nothing he answered with an expected vagueness.

 

“It is… more efficient that you do. I don’t have to waste more time on convincing you that I am performing accurately, which is better for the sake of my mission.” he answered, tilting his head slightly. 

 

“See? There’s no harm in having basic human decency, even for androids. Cooperation is always a good thing. In a way, that’s why I wish that people treat androids better, even if that’s not all.” she said, her vagueness and the bait at the end of her sentence worked just the way she had hoped. The android blinked and took the bait.

 

“So there is another reason beyond simply efficiency?” he questioned and she smiled at him, resting her fork down, now only having to wait for her bill.

 

“Yes. Would you like to know why I’m sympathetic towards deviants? It probably won’t help your mission to know, but I’m offering anyway.” she asked and watched as the android nodded, his LED flickering.

 

“Good. Four months ago, I was walking to the parking lot from my workplace. I was a therapist back then and I had met with a client really late that night. Having the key to the office, I didn’t want to make that girl wait because her circumstance was really awful and I felt bad for her. So of course, that left me leaving late that evening. I was walking, just tired and trying to get home, when I was grabbed by someone I hadn’t seen hiding behind a car. Before I realized what was happening, there was a gun to my head and the man who had grabbed me was threatening to shoot if I didn’t go with him. It was terrifying. I couldn’t do anything to save myself.” she began, the android looking at her in interest, a glimmer of anticipation shone in his eyes. She could tell that he already predicted how the night went, but stayed silent to allow her to finish.

 

“Out of nowhere, this android decks the guy in the face, the man never saw it coming. The android knocked the guy out cold and I was left to stand there and stare at the android. She looked at me with fear, afraid I would harm her. She whispered an apology. She apologized for saving me, Connor!” she emphasized, still amazed that the android had felt the need to apologize after saving her from god knows what. This is where Claire began to lie, not telling the true end of the story fro her own safety.

 

“The android ran away and I never saw her again. The next day, on the news, I saw where the android had fled from a restaurant and was considered a deviant. Considered a criminal.” the woman finished, brushing her black hair back with her fingers. 

 

“So you support something that could put all humans in danger because one deviant decided to save you?” the android questioned and Claire nodded.

 

“Yep. Call me crazy or delusional, but that’s just it. Besides, it’s not hurting anyone to support androids. You said yourself that it made things more efficient. Is that all you want to know?” she asked, the android opened his mouth, presumably to argue, but let what was on his tongue disappear. Straightening up, he fiddled with his tie.

 

“This conversation had been somewhat helpful, giving that I was unaware that these theories existed and may have some weight to them.” he paused, his processor became aware of something he had forgotten to do. “Thank you, Miss. Ripley. It has helped the case a bit. I’ll keep your secret, but I can’t do anything for you if you mess it up.” he admitted.

 

“Of course. With that being said and with our little agreement solved, how would you like some extra incentive to help me out a bit more? Like, maybe cover for me if I mess something up? That would be really helpful for me, and because I like you, I’ll offer something in return beyond just my theories.” she offered, her tone of voice hinted at something unrefusable. For a moment, she was concerned that he would refuse and tell her she was pushing her luck.

 

He rubbed his chin in thought, the realism of the gesture resonating with her. He looked at her with a cheeky smile, knowing she drove a hard bargain. He was was interested, but not enough to agree just yet.

 

“What offer?” he asked, pushing her into telling him with his tone. She watched as the server dropped the bill on the table.

 

“At the end of the month, after my experiment is over, I’ll take you to talk to the biggest deviant expert I know. Someone who can answer all of your questions and more. Someone who can tell you what I don’t know. What do you say?” she offered, raising her eyebrows. The android considered it before posing another counter.

 

“How do I know that you aren’t just trying to get me to help you. How can I trust that you’re not making things up?” he questioned, his tone taking on something more cynical and pushy. She knew she shouldn’t say this, but a tidbit wouldn’t hurt.

 

“Have you ever had a software instability after witnessing something that humans would consider troubling, then run a diagnostic to see that everything in your program is perfectly fine? If you haven’t, talk to me when you do. That’s just one thing the expert had shared with me.” she said, hoping that at some point the android had experienced this. It was a shot in the dark, but she knew she had hit the nail on the head when the android’s eyes looked back at her with dejection and disbelief. So he had experienced that? 

 

“How did you….I-” he began but shut his eyes to compose himself, clearing his throat. “I’ll choose to believe you, Miss Ripley.” he concluded.

 

“Just Claire. So, we have a deal?” she asked, taking the lunch bill into her fingers, ready to abandon the table.

 

The android still looked skeptical, however, the coldness of his demeanor has been chipped away to show his own uncertainty. His eyes looked over hers, the gears spinning in his head. She knew he could still refuse to help. She knew he could still completely ruin her entire experiment and possibly even get her into trouble if he tried to pry too much into her claim of knowing an expert. She knew all of this, knowing that it was in retrospect, a bad idea. Some part her told her to trust him. To trust his curiosity, a personal interest he had shown to her in even agreeing to come out here with her to talk. She had never seen an android show this kind of care towards a task, towards a mission. Could she assume that he really cared deep down about his actions, or was he just very well integrated? 

 

Still, she trusted him and that was a dangerous thing.

 

“We have a deal, Claire.” he spoke with sincerity, his eyes glimmering with emotions that she couldn’t be sure were faked with a social program

 

It seemed that as well as she trusted him, he trusted her word too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me, did I get Connor right? I don't know. I tried really hard to make his dialogue realistic.
> 
> Also, the song mentioned in this chapter is Singularity and each time I hear it, because of the lyrics, I think of Connor. We all know Connor is going to understand those lyrics someday.


	7. Bad Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Claire develop a secret code to communicate and Connor gets banged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who's back in business.
> 
> Sorry it took so long to get this out, but it's better late than not all at.
> 
> I hope you enjoy~~~

The two energy drinks that Claire had chugged had done absolutely no good besides make her feel even more weighed down and miserable.

 

Even though it was well past midnight, and the hope of being able to go home at a decent hour forgotten, the police station was in a state of unaffected business. Usually, at this time of the night, there was wasn’t a soul there and she would have already left or at least be locking up for the night. This was a different case. 

 

There had been a homicide.

 

It was unfortunate for many reasons. Not only had it made her night stretch even longer and keep her from being able to go to sleep at a decent hour, but it also complicated things with her personal affinity for androids. With the rise of horror stories of androids going rogue and attacking and even murdering their owners, it would be harder to make android protestors and anti-android groups empathetic towards androids... She couldn’t defend something that may be a threat to humans with any ease. She thought it would be easier to convince society to change in the subtle messages in her writing in the name of peaceful androids as opposed to violent, unpredictable deviants. It was also unfortunate in that her affinity for deviants faltered, doubts and fear creeping in at the possibility that she was wrong. At the possibility that, as Connor said, a target would be put on her head in the future. 

 

The fear came to surface when she watched as the accused deviant was roughly shoved into the interrogation room, three officers following along with a familiar face. The brunette android followed them into the interrogation room, the doors sliding open after the security panel authenticated the ID card that the scumbag detective held. An officer, who was dressed in full uniform, glanced over his shoulder at her, holding a styrofoam cup in hand. He paused in the doorway before calling out to her.

 

“Hey, android! I’m about to be finished with this,” he gestured, his cup raised slightly, “Come in and wait so you can get me a refill when I’m ready.” he demanded, but any harshness was absent in his tone. If she remembered correctly, she had heard the officer had been called Chris, but she wasn’t sure. She didn’t answer, not feeling the need to at such a vague request, and followed him obediently into the dark room. 

 

The room was stuffy, the detective who had thrown coffee on her leaned against the wall. It was dark in the observation room, but the lights that were harshly poured in on the deviant at the table was enough to provide visibility in the room. The police officer who had instructed her to standby, or Chris, took a seat on a stool at the bar-like countertop that was flush against the one way glass. She maneuvered her way around Connor, who touched his chin in a quick, discrete gesture. She responded by adjusting her collar on her uniform, no further visual comment necessary. 

 

On the drive back to the police department from her “errand”, they both came up with a secret code to communicate with each other, his promise to help her not get caught was taken seriously enough for him to contribute. A small touch to the chin was the same as asking “ _ Are you doing okay?” _ . An adjustment of a collar was a response saying “ _ Everything is fine” _ . She came up with the most important signal, the one that called for any concern of action.

 

A tug on the earlobe means “ _ I need your help” _ .

 

This was the best way to avoid suspicion with their deal. It was too risky to chance talking to one another, so a visual and primitive set of gestures would have to do for now. She had not gotten the chance to execute any of the visual cues with the prototype, because as soon as they got back to the station, he had been assigned to a human detective for the case. She had not seen him until just now, a new feeling of understanding present, a sharp contrast to how she felt about the android for the previous five days. The relief that she felt was a huge weight off her shoulders, able to somewhat trust that the android would have her back, even if for borderline dubious reasons.

 

It was a feeling she could get used to. 

 

She came to a resting stand beside the officer, her arms folded behind her back as she waited for him to request his refill. She could see the blue glowing band and triangle reflected in the window, a more dulled blue glow came from the android who stood behind her. To her right, she could see the scowling face of the angry detective reflected from where he stood behind her. His presence kept her on guard, wary of anything he could pull on her. Taking a breath, she watched curiously at the interrogation, or rather the silent, one-sided questioning that was taking place in the overly bright room.

 

The detective leaned over the table, each of his questions was being blatantly ignored by the android, who was caked with dried blood, the blue and red stains mingling on his skin and uniform. His face was tilted downward, he stayed completely still despite his broken, terrified expression. The detective himself looked dreadful, his scraggly grey hair fell beside his worn face, and she thought she may have imagined he was swaying slightly. He looked as if he had rolled out of a box on the side of the street. Before she had a chance to really listen to what was being said, the officer held the cup out to her. 

 

“Two sugars, two creams,” he informed her, barely giving the android poser a glance. She carefully took the empty cup from his hand, the curiosity of the outcome of the interrogation that intrigued her stirred up an urge to stay and listen instead of obeying. With no choice, she faked a smile at the officer who she knew wasn’t even looking at her.

 

“Right away.” she gave a short response and hurried off, the door sliding open for her as she set off. If she hurried, maybe she wouldn’t miss much. It was apparent that the android had been the murderer, the blood was enough evidence in her opinion. No, the department wanted a confession. She wondered if the deviant would even try to defend himself or if he would continue to stay silent. What had the owner done that was horrible enough for the deviant to snap like that?

 

She let her thoughts churn as she made her way through the office, all of the lights were off save for one light over the entrance and one light over the evidence room. The captain was working silently in his office, the light from a screen illuminated his face. He didn’t bother looking over at her. Stepping into the dark break room, she flicked on the light and busied herself making the cup of coffee, being sure to put in the proper amount of sugars and powdered creamer. She recoiled, personally hating the powdered creamer, preferring actual cream or milk over it. Once the coffee was made, she turned off the light and hurried back to the observation room using her key card discretely to open the door.

 

The first thing she noticed was that Connor was no longer in the observation room, his absence had been replaced by the older detective. She gave a look into the window, seeing where the android acquaintance of hers had gone. Of course, he said one of his features was negotiation and he said he had a predictive program. This may be her only chance to see the android at work, being able to see the use of his new tech. She handed the prepared cup to the cop, taking the same position beside him as before, praying that he does not dismiss her. If she was dismissed, she would have to leave. No comment was given and she hoped that she would be ignored standing there. She hoped that she would be seen as nothing but an android this once. 

 

She didn’t want to miss this chance to see what would happen when an android interrogated another android. It would be a great observation for her research.

 

How would the deviant act under pressure? Would Connor go easy on him to get a confession or would he be harsher? How human-like could they both get in this situation? Would Connor even get the deviant to talk? The answers to all of these questions were very important to her. If she messed up, would the negotiator android treat her differently in an interrogation just because she is human? Or because of his social module?

 

Pushing her questions aside, she found it better to silently watch and see what was going to happen. Connor leaned forward on the table, the soft, curious expression she had witnessed earlier was replaced with nothing but a cold exterior, his face looked as if it were carved of stone. The harsh light in the room cast deep shadows under his brow and chin, adding to the intimidating aura emanating from him. His eyes were unwavering, completely focused on the deviant in front of him. 

 

Claire hadn’t caught what had been said before this, that fact made her even more determined to listen and observe what was happening now.

 

“I was programmed to hunt deviants like you. I just accomplished my mission.” the brunette android admitted with a stark and uncaring tone. The fear coming from the deviant was nearly palpable, his antsy body language spoke volumes. He gave an insistent head shake, his voice tinged with his uncertainty.

 

“I don’t wanna die!” he blurted, the raw emotion in his voice struck Claire, a twinge of pity seared in her chest. She didn’t want to pity the android yet, there being no real justification for murder outside of defense. She noticed a small shift in Connor’s tone, it became softer and almost caring.

 

“Then talk to me.” he begged with his eyes, his eyebrows raised just a bit. The deviant looked at the table and struggled with his thoughts. Connor leaned forward slightly, eager to hear if the deviant had decided to talk yet.

 

“I...I can’t” the deviant struggled out, his defeat at his lack of ability to speak caused his shoulders to slump. Connor straightened up a bit and his face took on that same, intimidating, stark expression.

 

Detective Reed shuffled a bit behind her, chuckling to himself. The detective Connor was assigned to work with looked over his shoulder at the man’s mocking laugh.

 

“That plastic prick has nothing. It can’t crack that deviant.” the man claimed with another chuckle. Claire hadn’t allowed her eyes to leave the android, but she could imagine the smug grin on that asshole’s face. The scraggly detective said nothing in response, giving only a half-interested grunt. Maybe he was right, the android hadn’t gotten anywhere with the deviant yet as far as she had observed, but it wasn’t over.

 

The brunette’s eyes narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed. A new approach had flickered in his eyes, his body language reflected his change in demeanor.

 

“You’re a machine, you were designed to obey orders,” the android began, his voice soaked with frustration, whether it be real or faked, Claire couldn’t tell. He raised his hand up and she watched in horror that he was going to hit the android. “...so OBEY!” he shouted, slamming his hand down on the table’s surface. The sound ricocheted off the walls, his booming voice caused the deviant to jump in his seat, flinching at the sudden harshness. If Claire hadn’t been frozen there in shock, she would have jumped too, possibly making the others in the room suspicious of her. She recoiled internally, the elevated tone leaving a bad taste in her mouth. She noted the intensity for later on, just in case she ever had to deal with the android.

 

“Tell me what happened!” he commanded, his voice bounced around the room. The deviant trembled and shrunk away, afraid to speak a word for fear of the android in from of him. The deviant stayed silent for a few tension-filled seconds, Claire realized she had been holding her breath.

 

Connor leaned back in his chair, gesturing with his arms. A sarcastic, uncaring smile crossed his face, a nonchalant half shrug accompanied his demeanor.

 

“Okay then, don’t talk. What do I care after all?” Connor gave the rhetorical question, followed by a scoff. “I mean, I’m not the one accused of murder, right?” he pried, watching the deviant intently, who stared back with mortification. More silence followed and Connor quickly realized that it was getting him nowhere. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table

 

“Confess and I’ll protect you. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you.” the detective’s words promised, his voice had softened, the comforting lilt was just enough to soothe the deviant. Claire watched in awe as the deviant lowered his head and began to speak, his voice low and trembling.

 

“He tortured me every day…” he started, Connor’s eyes lighting up, keening his focus on the deviant. His dark eyes looked over the suspect, his interest shown even when he kept his face expressionless.  Everyone in the observation room became alert, listening to soak up everything that was being said, a small gasp came from one of the three men, but Claire wasn’t able to determine who. Instead, she listened, beginning to feel involved with this, not sure which android to side with. A homicide was bad, but if the deviant just defended himself, then she would consider him justified. This was something she took a mental note of, his deviant action being spurred by human behavior.

 

This could be extremely important to her research.

 

“I did whatever he told me but… there was always something wrong.” the deviant’s voice wavered, his pain clear in his hurt eyes. Claire, once again, felt sorry for the android and was already beginning to assume that it was, in fact, self defence. The deviant didn’t look hateful or murderous. He looked scared and guilty as if he regretted it.

 

“Then one day he took a bat and started hitting me. For the first time, I felt… scared.” he confessed, his eyes squeezing shut at the memory. Connor tilted his head slightly, Claire thought she saw a conflict in his face as if he were considering the deviant’s words. “Scared he might destroy me, scared I might  _ die _ .” he labored over his words, as if coming to realize exactly what had happened in its entirety as he explained.

 

“So, I grabbed the knife and I stabbed him in the stomach. I felt much better so I stabbed him again…” his tone raised and became more violent and emotional, his dark eyes meeting the grim gaze of the brunette. “And again...until he collapsed. There was blood everywhere.” he gave, his trauma tinted his voice and the memory twisted his face. Claire gulped and felt it hard to listen to, to witness the emotions rolling off the deviant. No one should have to feel that. Silently, she hoped that Connor would keep his promise and help the traumatized deviant. She knew the probability of that happening was slim, but she couldn’t help but root for him. Even if she herself was scared of the very thing that he had done.

 

“Why did you write “I am alive” on the wall?” the detective asked, the question seemed off topic. The deviant wrote on the wall, noted.

 

“He used to tell me I was nothing, that I was just a piece of plastic. I had to write it to tell him he was wrong.” the deviant’s voice cracked with emotion. Who was so messed up that they would be that abusive to an android? Why even buy an android? Connor looked down, having pulled a few sheets of paper in front of him, a movement she didn’t quite catch. It must be the evidence files.

 

“The sculpture in the bathroom, you made it, right? What does it represent?” Connor asked, after looking over the paper. His voice was steady and normal, no underlying emotions that Claire could detect, that she could pick out on his face or grasp to understand. He was just void at this point, having extracted the confession and just running through more questions. Void just like a machine.

 

“It’s an offering… An offering that I’ll be saved.” the deviant spoke up, Claire recognized this, hoping that no further question be asked about the offering. Narrowing his eyes, Connor adopted a confused look at the deviant’s words. He left the paper be and studied the deviant.

 

“The sculpture was an offering to whom?” the brunette questioned, leaning in with his curiosity coming back to light. The deviant’s eyes darted from the table top to the negotiator, seeming to debate whether or not to say anything. Claire prayed he wouldn’t say anything that would betray himself.

 

“To RA9. Only RA9 can save us.” the deviant explained, his tone had taken a lighter note as he thought fondly and with hope about his words. Claire felt her stomach drop. Maybe he won’t elaborate more on it. The pale android let his eyebrows knit together as he posed the next question.

 

“RA9… It was written on the bathroom wall. What does it mean?” Connor leaned in, no longer asking mandatory questions but rather feeding his own curiosity.

 

“The day shall come when we will no longer be slaves. No more threats. No more humiliation. We will be the masters.” the answer only spurred the detective on, another question waiting on his tongue.

 

“RA9… Who is RA9?” his voice sounding desperate, but no answer came. The deviant clammed up and wouldn’t spill anything, opting to just stare at Connor nervously. The detective android gave an artificial sigh, moving on to the next question, looking back over the papers he had forgotten.

 

“When did you start feeling emotions?” the deviant, reminded of his past, let his voice become quiet and unsure. 

 

Claire listened to this with more interest, wondering if this deviant had built emotions up over time like she had seen in other cases or if he had just snapped one day. It was important to her research and important to add to the credibility of her theory, especially after having explained what she thought to Connor hours before. She couldn’t afford to lose credibility to the android who was keeping her experiment a secret.

 

“Before, he used to beat me and I never said anything but one day I realized it wasn’t…  _ fair _ .” the deviant nearly spat the last word, then each word in the next sentence was spoken with malice, his eyes narrowed with hatred.” I felt anger… hatred… and then I knew what I had to do.” he said with resolution, a major change from his demeanor before. It hadn’t disproved what she said, but with the vagueness of the answer, it couldn’t be considered full on evidence. Connor gave him a calculating look before moving to the next question.

 

“Why did you hide in the attic instead of running away?” the question made Claire’s heart sink. The android had hidden in the attic? That sucks. How long did he stay there? Any confidence that the deviant had before went by the wayside as he answered.

 

“I didn’t know what to do. For the first time in my life, there was no one there to tell me. I was scared, so I hid.” he admitted. There was a short period of silence as the detective android had no more questions. He looked over to the window, as if he could see past the reflective glass, and spoke up.

 

“I’m done.” he stated, pulling himself from the metal chair he was sitting in, the deviant’s gaze returned towards the table top once again, seemingly afraid to look any humans in the eye. The eldest in the room muttered something that she didn’t catch and lead the way out of the observation room. She began to follow as they filed out the door but the brown-haired detective stopped her short, motioned for her to stop.

 

“You, wait there. We don’t need any more plastic to get in our way.” he barked out, giving her no option. She wasn’t going to follow him into the interrogation room, that would be crazy. She just wanted to go and wait for them to leave. 

 

Given no choice, she waited patiently as the door shut, watching the three pile into the brightly lit room. She could still observe from the other side of the glass, so being ordered to stand there wasn’t a bad thing. The cop moved to the side of the deviant, who looked even more stressed as the man got closer. Detective Reed stood in the middle, observing everything with his arms crossed. Connor was closest to the door and only a step away from the eldest detective.

 

“Chris, lock it up” Reed said, confirming that Claire had been right in remembering the policeman’s name. The cop moved around to pull the deviant up from the chair, placing his hands close to the deviant’s shoulders.

 

“Alright, let’s go.” Chris offered, gripping the deviant, who had reached his breaking point. He nearly leaped from his seat, recoiling from the officer’s grip.

 

“Leave me alone! Don’t touch me!” the deviant shouted, his fearful shout echoed around the room. Chris backed up in shock, but Reed wasn’t having it.

 

“What the fuck are you doing? Move it!” he demanded, taking a step closer, the deviant’s eyes darting over at the new threat. The officer shook his head and took a breath, going back to what he was doing before, trying to pull the deviant from the chair.

 

“Okay, come now, don’t be difficult. It’ll only make things harder.” he warned, a hint of frustration in his voice. The deviant jerked away again and the officer grabbed him rougher this time.

 

“You shouldn’t touch it. It’ll self-destruct if it feels threatened.” Connor advised from his corner, Claire wondering if his predictive programming had calculated that or if he was just trying to make things easier. There was silence and Chris stopped to look at Connor, considering his words. Of course, it wasn’t that easy.

 

“Stay out of this, got it? No fucking android is gonna tell me what to do.” the man growled out defensively. At this, the officer continued struggling with the deviant, who was thrashing side to side to loosen the man’s grip. Claire had a really bad feeling and she watched as the tension in the room got stronger. She hoped Connor wasn’t right when he said self-destruct.

 

“You don’t understand. If it self-destructs, we won’t get anything out of it.” Connor insisted the importance he felt was in his voice. This didn’t soothe Claire’s uneasiness as she watched the scene unfold. The deviant continued squirming away, begging to be left alone like a mantra. The scumbag detective wouldn’t heed Connor’s warning and took a step closer to the deviant, pointing a finger in the prototype’s direction.

 

“I told you to  _ shut your fucking mouth _ . Chris, are you gonna move this asshole or what?” his speech was authoritative, raising his arms up at the officer. The officer was now hunched over, struggling as best he could and getting nowhere with the deviant. He replied through gritted teeth.

 

“I’m trying.” his voice strained, barely audible over the pleading spilling from the deviant. Claire watched Connor, hoping he would continue to try and stop this, to try and get the officers to stop fighting. It wasn’t helping the situation and the chaos was getting worse. There was nothing to do but watch behind the glass. Connor’s lips parted for a moment, but he then closed his mouth and began to turn away, leaving the chaos to continue in the room

 

From behind the glass, all Claire could do was witness everything that was about to happen, as if it were in slow motion. 

 

In the commotion, the deviant spun around in the chair, ducking under the arms of the officer, having twisted free of his grip. With a swift motion, he pulled something from the officer’s belt, something Claire couldn’t see until it was whipped in front of the android. The moment that Claire recognized the object, it’s barrel pointed directly at the detective android, it fired with a deafening crack, the recoil popping the barrel up. Before Connor hit the ground, the bullet finding its way with deadly accuracy between his eyes, the tip of the barrel was pressed firmly to the deviant’s chin. With only a second of hesitation, the deviant fired into his own head, his body going limp in the chair and the gun falling to the floor. 

 

Was Claire that tired? Had she imagined this? She stared in disbelief, the silence further drilling the scene into her head. Her mouth was agape and she had stopped breathing. The detectives in the room hadn’t dared to move or breath, the first thing to be said was an exasperated “holy shit” from the oldest detective. She took a breath, painful from the pressure of her own heart that had stopped and was now working triple time. She was glad that no one was in the room to see her as she pulled her hand to her chest and took several deep breaths, trying to process what had just happened. Her false LED was reflected in the glass, flickering bright red like a strobe. She had just watched two people die. Right in front of her.

 

No… two androids die. No one would consider this a death, no one would mourn this or perhaps even feel sad about it. But she… she couldn’t help it. It’s hard to watch someone die like that. No matter what they’re made of. The detectives shuffled out of the room, giving her only a short time to compose herself, to seem unaffected and cold. She swallowed and tried to control her breathing, hoping that no wild expression of shock would be noticeable on her face, despite what she felt inside. She concentrated on calming her mind, yearning for the return of the blue light of her LED. The light flickered from red to blue a few times before, much to her relief, staying blue.

 

Chris opened the door and motioned for the android poser to come out into the hallway, his own shock evident on his face. Was it the same shock as her own or just a shock that it could have been him and the other end of the barrel. She stepped into the hallway, trying her best to feign anything but emotional in witnessing what had just happened. Down the hallway came captain  Fowler, having heard the gunshots. He had panic and worry written all over him as he marched down the hallway frantically.

 

“What the hell is happening? Is anyone hurt?” he gushed his question, the harsh tone of voice conveyed his panic. He placed his hands on his hips, his stature demanding an explanation. She tried to listen in, my her mind blocked everything that was being explained out when she looked into the interrogation room. The door was left open due to Reed leaning up against the door frame. Inside, sprawled out on the floor was Connor, a puddle of deep blue growing on the floor under his head. A callout to her snapped her attention back to the three officers and the captain.

 

“Claire, clean this mess up. I’ll send someone to get that thing out of there.” the captain grumbled, gesturing at the dead deviant, still slumped in the chair. She gave a look at the mess of splattered blood blown across the wall, knowing full and well she would be cleaning this all night. She must have lingered too long, the impatience of the captain urged her into action.

 

“Go on, I don’t want to be here all night!”

 

* * *

  
  


The silence made the air denser, taunting her silently as she pulled the mop bucket into the wreck of an interrogation room. She held her breath as best she could, the thick and bitter scent of thirium coated her lungs. The harsh, bitterness was pungent and overly sanitary, she would have preferred someone pour ammonia or bleach onto the ground for her to breathe. She would have preferred to smell human blood. She scrunched up her face, now free to show her humanity with the absence of the three men whose presence had made her stay later. 

 

Exhaustion clung to her, weighing her down along with the cold weight in her chest as she tried not to look at the detective android, who laid lifeless on the hard floor by the doorway. The deviant had already been removed from the scene, being stored in evidence from what she overheard. She had to buy enough time for Cyberlife to come and gather the prototype, Fowler previously mentioning that they would be arriving in something close to twenty minutes.

 

As she began to wipe down the empty chair where the deviant had killed himself, Claire tried to reason as to why Cyberlife would come to pick up the android even so late at night. She came to the conclusion that because Connor was a prototype and his technologies and design were still experimental, that Cyberlife wouldn’t want all of his features or patterns to be copied. Of course, Cyberlife was the monopoly when it came to android production, but there were some small competitors that tried to think ahead of Cyberlife and implement new things, which had all failed to date. Another conclusion, an advanced prototype like Connor could be a major threat if he were to get in the wrong hands if they simply threw him away like they did with other models. Reactivating a model like him could be catastrophic for the company.

 

He wasn’t the typical android.

 

Or maybe Claire was just overthinking things, as usual. Maybe they just needed him back to keep a log of how many times the android was destroyed in order to account for the next problem that would arise. Either way, with the current speed of the typical repair of an android for commercial reasons, Claire estimated that the next Connor model would be back on duty in no more than two days. However, it had to be considered that Cyberlife wouldn’t waste time or money to repair him, more than likely having many of the prototype models lined up for situations like this? In that case, She could expect a new Connor the next day, which would be the most efficient. However, this was only a guess.

 

Once she had the chair wiped down, she swallowed and tried to ignore the model splayed on the floor behind her as she pulled the mop bucket towards her. She didn’t want to look at him, the feeling of confronting the fact that she was upset by him was something she didn’t want to face yet. Hopefully, not at all, her plan was to take extra  _ care _ and not get done with this side of the room until Cyberlife employees arrived to take the android’s corpse away. 

 

Corpse

 

She got a cold chill at the word. For her own mental health, she chose not to look at the android, keeping her eyes and attention trained on the wall, where the thirum had splattered with great force, a bullet hole planted in the center of the drying blue liquid. That could have punctured her instead, had that gun been pointed at the glass. The event replayed in her mind as she finished up, having cleaned as much as she could of blood-flecked on every surface. All except for where Connor laid.

 

She had tried to stall, but unfortunately, she had been unsuccessful and now was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to stall and not have to deal with looking at the android, or hurry up so that she could get some well-needed sleep. She was so tired, despite her shock at watching two people die in front of her, that her brain felt numb. Taking a deep breath and surveying the now clean side of the room for any other sign of drying thirium, she grabbed a towel and set off towards the other side of the room. It was better to hurry up and get out of here than to regret every moment of staying in the room, wondering if any of her research was worth this.

 

She held her breath as she idley pulled the mop bucket to the doorway, casting a regretful glance at the android laying in silence on the floor, thirium pooled under his head. Her chest felt heavy as she let her eyes linger over the figure, pulling her reluctant gaze back to the wall where a large splatter of blue stained the wall, marking where his head had been only an hour ago. Letting a shaky breath escape her lips for what seemed like the upteenth time that night, she reached up to wipe the blue from the wall, the stickiness clinging to the rag. She tried to focus on the wall, fighting the urge to look back at the android, her curiosity getting the better of her. What was there to look at? She tried to come up with an answer, but she didn’t know. She just felt horrible at the waste of potential that laid at her feet. She didn’t feel quite this horrible about the deviant, while she did still find it saddening.

 

Letting her hand fall from the wall, no traces of the blue thirium remaining, she let her drooping eyes fall back down to the android, almost expecting the corpse in some twisted way to move or blink. The thought was chilling, but perhaps a contributor to even thinking that way was the fogginess that clung her her mind. She bent down before really considering her actions to get a better look, knowing that she may never get this close to an android of this model again.

 

The bullet hole in his forehead was lined with blue, the air in the room was drying the liquid into a sticky goop, a trail of the fluid ran down over the bridge of his nose. The stillness of the android made her cringe inwardly, as if preparing for some spring of action from the android. She knew she was being silly, but she tried to prepare herself nonetheless. At this proximity, Claire could really study the realism of his features, unmoving as if she were looking at a photograph. No human could be this still. In the solemn silence, she realized that no one would mourn for this loss of life. No one would feel sorry for the failure of this machine.

 

Except for her.

 

She had talked to him only hours ago, shared words and her thoughts. Despite him disagreeing with her in every idea that she shared, he still agreed to keep hushed about her position. She had offered him nothing really, but he had allowed it. Let it slide for his own curiosity, which she knew he was most likely not programmed with unless it was explicitly connected to his case. In a way, she had felt almost acquainted with him after that, relieved by him knowing, relieved she could allow herself to become just a tad more comfortable around him. 

 

Her mind returned to the memory of him asking about that song in the car ride. He had enough curiosity in him to wonder about the meaning of the lyrics. This was something that hinted at deviancy if he had been a normal android, which he, in fact, was not. The prototype not only was unfinished, but advance in such a human way to aid his function, but it was enough to capture her attention. They even had developed a secret code. That enough was enough to have her become fond of him. Perhaps it was human nature. His face, she noticed, was the same as it had been when he was talking to her earlier, his now dead state causing her discomfort.

 

He was the same except for one thing.

 

His eyes didn’t hold the same twinkle as they had before. She allowed herself to really solidify this fact in her head as she looked at the android’s absent eyes. When he was alive, his eyes held a different light, almost as if he had a soul behind them. But now that was gone, her stomach doing a flip as the realization settled in her mind. Slowly, she turned away, unable to bare to look at the android any longer, her disappointment was too much for her tired brain.

 

Instead, she went to go and check on the state of Cyberlife’s arrival. 

 

She couldn’t finish mopping and get home if he was in her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you think Claire will get any sleep? No. She won't 
> 
> Usually, I don't opt for Connor dying in game, but the dramatic effect was something I craved. I wanted Claire to see him die, for Hank to see him die. Just some extra angst because Claire wouldn't be there for any other time that Connor would have died in the course of the game, so this was the only chance for her to experience that.
> 
> Anyways, feel free to comment and thanks for reading and being patient.


	8. Red Interior Decorating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire tells Holly that Connor is straight up dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter to act as a counterweight to the previous super long chapters and the following long chapter. Anyways, i know my upload schedule has been bonkers but I'll try to get stuff out more often.
> 
> Thank you for your support tho!!!!

“Damn, you’re not gonna get any sleep tonight.” 

 

The blonde sat upside down on the couch, playing a round of Super Smash Bros, swinging her feet back and forth. Her gaze didn’t leave the television, her green eyes focused on her character. Claire sighed in response and swung her gym bag that contained her android uniform onto the dining room table. It was getting close to three in the morning, and she had to get up only three hours later to go back to the station again. Yet again, Holly had pointed out the obvious in an overly casual way.

 

“A little more sympathy, please. I’ve had the worst day.” Claire admitted breathlessly, bending over to pull her shoes from her feet. She was so tired that it was hard to stand. The blonde on the couch glanced over at her and gave a joking smile, coming up with some wisecrack that Claire didn’t give her the chance to spit out. “Robocop found out.”

 

A smile spread across Holly’s face. She paused the game and clumsily flopped onto her feet with a loud thud. Tossing her controller onto the couch, the blonde met Claire and grabbed her arms excitedly, her green eyes wide. Claire had not expected this kind of elated expression, more or less hoping for concern or sympathy.

 

“So you’re done? Let me guess, you got caught and everyone found out and it got ruined?” She spurted, squeezing the dark haired girl’s arms in elation. “Yes! I mean... I’m sorry for you, but now you get to stay home with me for a while! And I don’t have to worry about you all day anymore!” She beamed happily, swaying from side to side. The blonde’s eyes scanned Claire’s expectantly and her excitement began to dissipate at Claire’s silence. The researcher opened her mouth and then closed it, not sure what to say in response.

 

Claire knew Holly wanted her to succeed. She knew that the blonde supported the cause and also wanted her books to be a success for the sake of androids. She knew that each time she did something potentially dangerous, including the social experiment at the hotel and the past five days at the police department, Holly worried herself sick. Knowing this didn’t make it sting any less when she saw her so excited that she may have quit. Even when it meant so much to Claire.

 

“No, I won’t be staying home… I, uh,” She faltered when she saw the disappointment and confusion spread across the green-eyed girl’s face. “Robocop and I talked about it and we worked something out. But that doesn’t matter now, he’s dead.” she admitted. 

 

“Dead? And what do you mean by deal?” Holly asked, her hands dropping from her arms. Claire took a breath and tried to string together a proper explanation for Holly in as few words as possible, feeling ready to crash into her bed.

 

“When he found out, I offered him something in return for agreeing to keep my secret. I told him the very surface value of what I have found out and left the details for later. Thank you, by the way, in a month you’d have to be up for an interview with him… if he hadn’t been shot three feet from my face today.” Claire admitted and watched as Holly gaped at her in disbelief.

 

“You what? Are you serious?!” the blonde’s voice raised in pitch and volume. A flare of anger flashed in her green eyes only for a moment before disappearing to leave concern. 

 

“You’re telling me you were close enough to get shot!? Claire, you told me you wouldn’t do anything dangerous, that you would be careful! Where were you anyways?” The blonde urged, a whine escaped her lips at the frustration building up.

 

“I wasn’t anywhere dangerous, just the worst thing happened at the wrong time. I was behind what I think was bulletproof glass. But hey, there’s something good that came out of this, right?” Claire beamed, hoping that promise of good news would be enough to ease Holly’s concern. She folded her arms over her chest and shifted her weight on one foot, reluctantly listening to what Claire had to say.

 

“Robocop won’t remember. We get out of any kind of interrogation, which is amazing, because after I saw him drill that deviant today, I don’t want him anywhere near you, Holly. I’ll just have to be especially careful from now on and stay as far away from him as I can so he can’t scan me. If he catches me again, I’ll just have to come up with something different or try and play on his curiosity in a different way this time.” Claire more or less thought out loud. It was easier said than done. Part of her knew that she couldn’t fool the advanced android with any amount of ease.

 

“What if luck is against you this time, Claire? What if something even worse happens to you and you cross the line? You can help androids in other ways. You don’t need to put yourself on the line like this,” Holly began, her face twisting with concern as she tried to express what she was feeling, her nose scrunching up slightly.

 

“This is all for me and I can’t deal with it if you get hurt. I want you to be successful, but this is… too much.” Her words trailed off and she looked at the floor.

 

Claire’s heart sank as she saw how much this affected her friend, to see Holly so concerned and upset that Claire could be hurt. It was touching, but part of her didn’t want it. She didn’t want Holly to worry or feel responsible. It was Claire’s decision, but she knew that if anything were to happen, then the blonde would blame herself for it. 

 

The worst part about the situation was that the emerald-eyed girl’s worry wasn’t in any way misplaced. This was dangerous and often sacrificial in means of time, sleep, and often times even Claire’s health, but she found it worth it. Claire could suck it up for the sake of the research; having someone worry like this stung because it meant she knew she was going too far, that she could potentially hurt herself. Claire wanted to ignore that.

 

She didn’t want anyone to care for her like this. Not when she didn’t believe her sacrifice was enough to worry about.

 

“I’m sorry… but I have to do this, and really, it’s not that bad. I can do this, I know I can. Just trust me, okay? I know it’s hard, but after this month, everything will be back to normal for a bit and I’ll make it up to you.” She urged, trying to soothe her friend. Holly’s stern face collapsed and she thought over the words, daring to hope and be optimistic. Her folded arms slackened and she let out a sigh.

 

“Well…” she began but closed her emerald eyes in thought, considering her argument. “You’re not gonna make it till the end of the month if you don’t get sleep. Do you want anything to eat really quick?” Holly asked, already heading towards the kitchen. Claire shook her head and almost felt dizzy after the movement. 

 

“No, I had a good lunch today for once. And besides, I just want to crash.” She admitted, smiling at the memory of being able to actually go out and eat lunch. For the first time in a while, she had spent her lunch in the company of someone other than herself. A tinge of regret tainted the memory as her thoughts immediately began to be filled with flashes of splattered blue thirium and dead brown eyes. Her smile faded as soon as it arrived.

 

“Then crash, dude. Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Holly offered, already leading Claire to her bed. Normally, Claire would always write the events of the day and the research down before she went to bed each night, but tonight was the exception. She would write the following day, probably first thing in the morning.

 

She hadn’t realized that Holly was pushing her into her bedroom until she flicked on the light to reveal the contents of the room. With a red, grey, and white color palette, the bed and furniture were a dark, cool grey and red accent pillows decorated the bed and the color was carried over to the lamp on her bedside table. The floor was a dark cherry hardwood and the white walls made everything pop. Some people preferred blue, green, or brown in bedrooms for the soothing nature of the colors but there was no comforting color like a scarlet for Claire.

 

She didn’t bother taking her hoodie or sweatpants off and practically fell face first into bed, hastily pulling the blankets over her head hoping to pull as much energy from what little amount of sleep she was about to receive. Shrouded by the thick, gray blanket, Claire had not seen the light be flicked off but was only assured that it had by the soft sound. Expecting to hear a soft goodnight from Holly and disappearing footsteps, she was almost startled when the bed dipped beside her. 

 

Peeking out from under the covers, Claire watched her roommate give a troubled sigh as she scooted onto the bed, sitting at an angle with her face turned. She didn’t have to see her face to know that she was still troubled. The dark-haired woman opened her mouth but closed in to think over a better approach. Holly needed softness right now.

 

“Remember when we went to Target and almost got kicked out for turning on all of the singing kids’ toys? And then we went to that thrift store and tried on that ridiculous fur coat because it was the stupidest thing you had ever seen? That employee was so confused and asked why the heck I was allowing you to do that,” Claire spoke up, her voice soft and quiet. Holly turned to look at her and a small, bittersweet smile crossed her lips.

 

“Yeah. I remember having to wear a dumb fisherman’s hat to get into that fancy restaurant because it was the only kind of hat in the gas station across the street.” she reminisced, looking down at Claire. She had almost forgotten that occasion, but it was one of the first things they had done together. Even in her sleepy state, she managed a small laugh.

 

“We’re going to have times like that again, Holly. It’s tough right now, but I promise that we’ll do something fun. We’ll go see a movie or go to an arcade or something like that.” Claire assured, making sure to celebrate the end of the month by planning an event with her roommate. The blonde looked away, giving another bittersweet smile. A storm of worries and unspoken thoughts swirled behind her emerald eyes, untouched by Claire’s assurances. Still, the girl nodded and left the conversation there in order to avoid keeping Claire up any longer. The dark haired woman knew this and decided that Holly would bring it up later and not to push.

 

She was staying strong for Claire, staying silent for her expense. The least she could do was be patient with Holly. 

 

“That’ll be nice. We’ll plan that later…” agreeing despite her own struggle, Holly pulled Claire’s blanket up to her neck. A spark of humor replaced her previous unreadable emotion “Now, I’m gonna lay here with you to make sure you don’t end up on your phone all night.” She didn’t offer but stated as fact. Usually, this would be a problem, but Claire doubted she held the mental capacity to even type something into a search bar. She gave a quiet  _ mhm _ and scooted over, making room for the blonde to lay down beside her. Holly accepted the gesture when Claire tossed the blanket over them both.

 

“Goodnight and… thank you,” Claire mumbled, shifting to get the right amount of comfortable under the covers. Holly smiled and gave her the same  _ mhm _ that Clare gave seconds ago. 

 

As sleep speedily pulled her under, Claire relished the comforting presence of the body next to her. Holly was her best friend and could be her sister, her lover, anything more human if only a small blue ring of light was absent from her temple. It didn’t matter that she breathed only to look normal or couldn't eat. It didn’t matter that she never had to sleep and was exempt from sickness and all uniquely human disadvantages. It just didn’t matter.

 

Having Holly beside her as she slept was the closest thing Claire could have to having a sister, even if a blue light was what separated them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya. Connor really can't find out about Holly at this point because it would be Bad™.
> 
> Yeah, this was a short chapter but hey, there's some progress at least. There will be more progress with Connor and Claire in the next chapter, so yay. Thanks for reading and let me know if you enjoyed this chapter!!!


	9. Back from the Grave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are always harder than Claire ever anticipates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy, I'm back bitches
> 
> I'm gonna try to write as much as I can for National Writing Month so maybe we can finally get some progress on this fic. My goal is 15k for this fic at the minimum and 15k on another fic, Curiosity Saved the Cat. Hopefully, I can exceed that by a lot and get a major chunk of this fic over and done with since midterms are out of the way. 
> 
> Thanks for your patience!

November 6th, 2038

 

Laughing to herself as she gulped down her third energy drink, breaking the promise that she made to Holly not to drink any more of those scourges on her health, Claire hid out in the storage closet. There was no way she could manage this day without the absolute wreck of chemicals in an energy drink and Holly would never understand that. She felt as if someone had punched her in the head and drug her through the street by her foot. Her body and mind were exhausted and the only thing the energy drinks were doing was keeping her eyes open.

 

With a sigh and a tinge of regret at the aftertaste of the overly sugary energy drink, Claire slipped the drink into the trash can inside the closet, knowing no one will look there. She straightened her uniform and pressed on the fake LED on her temple to make sure it stuck well. She didn’t want to take the risk of it popping off after the adhesive side failed her. Peering out the door, she determined that no one was in sight to see her creep from her hiding spot. 

 

The station yet again was bustling as it came closer and closer to lunchtime, the absence of the new Connor made the poser’s job easier and made her stress level lower, but she knew that enjoying the absence of him wouldn’t last long. She would be back to ducking away from his eyes and appearing as android as possible in no time. Honestly, she expected the replacement to be back already, but perhaps she was wrong and Cyberlife would take longer to replace him. 

 

If only the model could remember her, her job would be much easier. She wouldn’t have to worry about staying away or having to convince him to keep quiet once again when or if he found out. But alas, it was unlikely that she could manage to stay away for the rest of the month and fool an android who possessed what he himself described as a “predictive software”. Then again, she just wanted to be exempt from having to share any form of her discovery or research with the android in the fear that it would turn around and bite her considering that she had Holly to look out for. She opted to push that to the back of her mind and focus on the day ahead instead of worrying about something she couldn’t change. 

 

She took a deep breath and headed out across the station, the bustle of the office provided a white noise for her thoughts and the sounds of phones ringing and casually chatting filled the air. Looking around, she watched as many people had left for lunch and the desks were absent of workers while some officers sat off to the side in their own self-imposed lunchtime. Making a mental note to go wipe the counters in the breakroom, Claire nearly jumped out of her android pants when she heard the glass doors to the precinct open to allow the prototype to walk into the space. 

 

He looked just the same as he had before, walking in and scanning the room with his dark eyes. Claire deadpanned and quickly power walked out of sight, knowing that overreaction would be a dead giveaway and she would have the same issue on her hands again, possibly in front of other people. The station wasn’t as empty as if had been during their confrontation yesterday. She tried to remember exactly what she had said in an attempt to be able to bring those words back if he caught her again today. The question is, was it her words or chance that made the previous Connor listen to he and give her mercy?

 

She watched from the break room as the Connor walked down the row of desks and looked over each one before hovering over one in particular. She was too far away to read the words written on the name plaque, but apparently, it was who the android was looking for. It was the messiest desk in the office space, but everything that formed the cluttered, unappealing wreck were personal things. She would go and pick the trash from the disarray of the desk from time to time, but she had never seen the person who the desk belonged to, or at least she didn’t think she had. 

 

The replacement Connor looked over the desk, his interest piqued by the items on the desk. His head tilted slightly, his gaze steady and calm. She watched as he picked up some rather dated headphones before lifting them up to listen to whatever they were playing. As he was turned away from her, she could not see his facial expression, but his jerk away from the headphones said it all.

 

The sound of someone clearing their throat and shuffling behind her made Claire realized that androids do not low key peer around corners to look at other androids. It wasn’t as if she was hunched over suspiciously, but standing in the doorway and looking intently off into the office most likely did not appear android. She stiffened her face and robotically turned around to look at the person who had approached. Just another detective, by the casual appearance that the lady wore. She was shorter than Claire and had short, curly brown hair concealed under a beanie and darling freckles that were sprinkled across her face and neck. The woman looked at Claire and past her to see what the cleaning android could possibly be looking at, her curious and genuine eyes knew immediately what the android was looking at.

 

Still, Claire took a cautious step back and placed her hands in front of her as a formality. The brunette in front of her didn’t seem to have any ill intentions or impending harsh demands, but she could never tell. 

 

“Whatcha looking at?” The woman asked in a friendly tone, her hands held behind her back, as she leaned forward to yet again look past the android in front of her. Claire swallowed and begged that her LED wasn’t any color besides blue. This certainly had not been her most stressed situation thus far, so surely the light wouldn’t betray her this time.

 

“I am surveying the area to be certain that my assistance is not needed before I…” Claire had to remember what purpose she would have in the breakroom “...begin wiping the countertops. If I am in your way, I apologize.” she finished with a slow exhale. The woman in front of her, who looked back behind the android poser, didn’t seem to be all that convinced. The brunette quirked her eyebrow, her freckles moved like a folded star map with the expression. Claire held her breath as the assumed detective opened her mouth to speak. Would it be too much to hope for that the woman would just leave and not try to engage in any conversation with her?

 

“So you’re not looking at that other android? I could’ve sworn…” she trailed off, looking back at Claire’s face to further try to kern information from the practiced indifferent face of the android. 

 

Before Claire could tell the woman that she must get to work or that she had a nice talk or any other formality that she could fake, a voice spoke up behind her. Luckily and very unluckily, not the voice of the prototype android.

 

“Adelson!” Claire looked straight ahead to avoid letting her head snap back to locate the source of the man’s voice, hoping to instead use this as an opportunity to slip away and perhaps stay in the breakroom, busying herself until the new Connor model went to a separate part of the building. She decided that this almost mishap was a lesson to be more careful. She didn’t need a person catching on to her sloppy posing. She knew that is a person caught on, the prototype would not take long to figure out as well. 

 

The lady left with the douchebag detective and Claire wondered who on earth could be friends with someone so bitter. Reed was, in fact, one of the worst people in the department by Claire’s standards, but at least this time she was spared any rude comment or jab from the detective as he went off with the nosey woman. Claire took a breath and went to head further into the break room when the undeniably familiar sound of a coffee mug shattering on the concrete floor met her ears.

 

The crash had come from outside the breakroom and Claire inwardly cringed at the realization that she would, unfortunately, have to mop up the mess in the same space as the detective android. If there was a time to act perfectly this was the time. 

 

An officer called out to her and she sighed before making her way into the large office space, trying her best not to look in the direction of the brunette android and failing. He was leaned over the desk that he had been studying and was reading a mess of papers on a wire board, presumably trying to learn as much as possible about whoever occupied that desk. No doubt, trying to absorb as much as he could for his investigation, his dark eyes scanning over the desk. In her glance over towards him, he caught notice and looked up at her from across the room, a sincere smile spreading across his lips. Claire stiffened, and tried to deadpan as she turned her gaze back towards the mess. 

 

Did he...remember her? No, that was absurd. She was just overthinking things. He was programmed to adapt and appeal to people around him, so he was just giving a friendly, programmed smile…right? Calm, calm and easy, she told herself in order to make her LED remain a serene blue. It was a method she had thought up to try and keep herself from showing too much. She was beginning to really hate this LED and though some realism would be lost, she almost wanted to demand Cyberlife send her one that just stays blue.

 

She headed towards the supply closet, tucked in a nook towards the back of the station, no eyes to see her rub her face and wonder if her makeup had successfully continued to hide her deep, dark circles. Touching the pad that unlocked the supply closet, she reached in to grab the mop, mop bucket, and dustpan for the glass shards. When she closed the door she nearly dropped the bucket when she realized that the brunette had followed her to the supply closet, unnoticed by her due to his silent approach.

 

Before she could make any defense or try to pretend like he didn’t just scare the devil out of her, he spoke up as if nothing had happened.

 

“I apologize for the inconvenience of my failure yesterday, but I wanted to inform you that my predecessor’s absence does not mean that our agreement is off, right?” He spoke matter of factly, raising his curved eyebrows in question.

 

Claire looked at him and back at his serial numbers. The number on his uniform the day before had ended with 52 with her memory, today it was a bold 53 under his model number. He had in fact been replaced from the day before if her memory was correct. She blankly stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say other than the most pressing thing on her mind.

 

“You remember me?”

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


Connor looked down at the woman, her fake LED spun yellow in her thoughts. Of course he remembered her, it was one of his features. Had he mentioned that yesterday? The woman looked at the ground and rubbed her eye, a quick scan showed that her blood pressure was above the average standard for human safety.

 

“That...actually makes sense. If Cyberlife didn’t transfer your memory, then the investigation would be slammed to a halt if you died…” she more or less thought aloud. She looked back up at him, her blue eyes narrowing in curiosity. “So, is your memory stored to something like an external cloud or is it transferred manually?” she whispered something under her breath after this that he was unable to catch. 

 

“It is stored to a specific database at the headquarters, but if I’m interrupted, some of my memory can be corrupted and lost. I also have an internal memory that backs up everything, although it is only utilized if there is too much data corruption or if the archive at Cyberlife is damaged. It’s one of my best features.” he explained, as he found necessary for the woman to understand and then answer his question. She nodded and let her fingers curl under her chin in thought.

 

“So, you remember everything we talked about yesterday?” she asked, narrowing her eyes again in questioning. He conducted a test run and found some information corrupted. Frowning he ran the test again to be certain, red error messages popped into his optics.

 

“There is some data corruption but I do still remember the details of the discussion we had at the restaurant. Which brings me to my question, Miss Ripley, do you still intend to keep our agreeance the same?” he asked, steering the topic of conversation back to what he needed to know. This could be a valuable asset to his investigation if it still remained solid.

 

“What do you not remember?” she asked, ignoring his question. He decided to be patient, his evaluation of her character traits was that any pressure or impatience would not help her answer his question any faster.

 

“I remember Detective Reed spilling coffee on you and meeting you in the breakroom to inform you that I had scanned you. You told me that it wouldn’t be worth it to expose you for the benefit of my investigation. The next thing I remember is...stepping out of your vehicle near the cafe. From there on, there is no memory corruption detected in my archive.” at his explanation, a software instability error message alerted in his optic display. Running a quick diagnostic, there were no detectable errors in his system. 

 

Why had there been an instability? He remembered the words of the girl standing in front of him from the cafe the day before, “ _ Have you ever had a software instability after witnessing something that humans would consider troubling, then run a diagnostic to see that everything in your program is perfectly fine” _ . Perhaps it would do him some good to ask what she had meant about that now. 

 

“Ah, so you don’t remember the car ride? That’s...strange.” She said before looking back at the mop bucket. She took a deep breath and changed the subject before he could ask, but not to a subject that he could argue because of its relevance.

 

“To answer your question, yes the agreement is still on so long as you don’t say anything about me,” she then whispered under her breath, “ _ That would be the very last thing I need right now so I gotta compromise. _ ” Her tone was concerning as it held a small amount of bitterness but Connor was unable to decide if it was a sign of mistrust towards him for his android existence or some other influence. Given the way that the woman cared for androids and was even making the ridiculous cause her own, he assumed it was that latter assumption. 

 

She fiddled with the mop bucket for a moment and remembered that she was supposed to be on duty. 

 

“I need to go before anyone wonders where I am. Thank you again for not ruining my life right now. Good luck with...your investigation.” she paused and looked him up and down before adding “Actually, you need to be the one to go first. It would look suspicious if you followed behind me.” She reasoned, making a shooing gesture with her hand.

 

“Of course. Remember, I can assist you if it is necessary. I’m glad that you have decided to keep our agreement and I look forward to you-” his words were cut short by the woman who was growing impatient.

 

“Yes, You’re welcome, don’t mention it, just go. That’s how you can help. Someone might get suspicious.” the dark-haired woman urged, her dulls eyes flashed with anxiety and as seconds passed her stress levels increased. 

 

He pressed his lips together and nodded, heeding her words and in his order slowly turned to go back to Lieutenant Anderson’s desk to wait for his arrival. His LED spun yellow as he continued to process the conversation that he had just had and wondered why he had a software instability at the simple occurrence of a data corruption in his memory. He didn’t look back at the woman as he went back to patiently wait for the arrival of his recently partnered detective. He had already looked over the man’s desk and belongings, pulling as much information as he could from the desk. 

 

One could tell a lot by the contents splayed across a desk in disarray. He went over what memory was thankfully not corrupted, running the interrogation from the deviant last night through his mind. What could this mean? Was it an error in the deviant’s software, a code that had gone astray or ambiguous commands that overwhelmed it? Or was it… a human influence as the android poser had suggested?

 

As if on cue, The woman walked into the office, pulling the yellow mop bucket behind her and setting up  _ caution: wet floor _ signs around the area before getting busy brushing shards of destroyed coffee mug onto the blue dustpan. Now, in looking at her and observing her movements, she was certainly nowhere close to being android in her movements. Although she wasn’t clumsy or necessarily inefficient, she moved in a more casual and uncalculated way, as if from experience and not procedure. No one else in the office had taken any mind to this, Connor noticed, and he began to consider that the current comfort or rather lack of interest for what was perceived as android was concerning in means of human safety.

 

What if she were a spy there to collect information? Claire Ripley was an average, untrained woman who only had a master's degree at a university, from her record, and had no official movement or acting training. The only thing in her record that even suggested that she was a bit trained in something other than her degree was a high school boxing championship that she was a runner-up to twice. And yet, still, no one even in a room of detectives took notice of this?

 

After the month was up, he decided, he was going to recommend a different safety procedure that screened things like this better even though he found the probability of a Cyberlife employee considering his suggestion improbable.

 

He was pulled away from any planning for a safety procedure as his partner walked into the sliding doors of the police station and over to where Connor was sitting at his desk. The man frowned, his face showing his disgust of his new partner much to Connor’s need for the lieutenant to be pleased. It wouldn’t be efficient to have a lack of bonding between them.

 

Connor did a quick scan and prepared himself to appeal to his new partner to the best of his integration.

 

 


End file.
